Recycling an obsolete space. House in a Haberdashery by OOIIO

Description of project by OOIIO

New opportunities for obsolete spaces.

Society is evolving at breakneck speed. Habits change, our way of life is transformed towards hybrid models where the digital and the analogic coexist creating new ways of buying, living, travelling... Cities, of course, are also changing following these socio-economic movements. This small project to transform a haberdashery into an apartment is a consequence of all this.

Change of Use Projects is very common today in large areas of cities like Madrid. Where there used to be a neighbourhood shop, a car park, or an upholstery workshop, today rises apartments. Families are different now and not all of them need a house with 3 or 4 bedrooms, kitchen, and garden. Nowadays there are also people who live alone or couples without children or people who are passing through a city for a specific time.

This trend can be seen from a negative perspective if we look at the loss of the commercial, economic and social fabric that shaped the neighbourhoods a few decades ago; or from a positive point of view if we value the opportunity for recycling, new investments, and revitalization of degraded areas brought about by these Changes of Use Projects.

In just 55 m² this colourful home concentrates what is necessary for contemporary urban life. The rectangular space that configured the old store is now embraced by an "L" of cabinets and kitchen, in such a way that it frees the entire space, receiving inside as much natural light as possible. Some golden slats direct that light and play with privacy in the room as users need.



The materials used in the project are simple and cheap, appropriate to the scale of the intervention, without giving up making the most of its expressive opportunities, filling everything with colour, textures, and nuances. The combination of materials is very important in this small house. Two large rectangles are open up on the fronts of the mint-coloured cabinets, framed with white marble and tiled with coral ceramic tiles, intentionally placed in front of the windows so that natural light makes them vibrate. In the narrow bathroom, bright turquoise tiles are also used, reflecting the light, to make the small available space more sensory. The gold of the directional slats is repeated in the details of the cabinets, lights, and the veining of the marble on the floor.

A small apartment that recycles an obsolete space, designed for 21st-century urbanites.