A Moulting Flat
by Husos Architects

The project is a 44sq.m. apartment in the Lavapiés neighbourhood of Madrid, refurbished for Niño de Elche. Designed and conducted by Husos Architects, they employed four strategies:

A Spanish musician and performer.

1) Retaining as many of the preexisting elements as possible.

All tiles of the bathroom and kitchen were preserved. 90% of the kitchen units were kept. The seemingly ‘ugliest’ part of the apartment was converted into an objet de désir, a new and surprising sculptural element within the home.

Despite these having geometries and finishes that are often considered aesthetically undesirable according to contemporary hegemonic imaginaries, with imitation wood finishes, neo-Romantic handles and heterogeneous geometries, these were in good condition and perfectly reusable, including the refrigerator. Rather than throwing them out, these pieces were simply refreshed with a coat of paint, thus reducing the amount of rubble and waste generated by the refurbishment.

2) Creating a large amount of storage space which would be flexible, low cost, and polyvalent.

Husos constructed a system based on metal racks all around the perimeter of the apartment which support wooden shelves. There is a rail on which various separate curtains hang, allowing for multiple configurations to hide or reveal the stored objects.

These are complemented by boxes for vinyl records, brackets for speakers, wall hangers for guitars, and other auxiliary supports designed for this project, as well as a small storage space underneath the bed.

The house can work as a figurative, multi-narrative space or as an abstract, apparently ‘mute’ space. The translucency of the curtains redraws the geometry of the original architecture. The storage units also serve as acoustic insulation.

3) Allowing for changes in ambience using a multifaceted system of illumination.

Several types of luminaries were created using everyday household objects, such as mop drainers, sieves, funnels and citrus juicers of various different colours. Apparently mundane household objects create a new, transformable landscape.

Each unit can be activated independently, much like a string of colour-changing lightbulbs. Amplified in different ways through the gloss and transparency of the silver-coloured material of the curtains, these luminaries generate a variety of interior atmospheres.

4) Enabling different usages through movable furniture. A table on wheels, a sofa, a social bed, a screen. The whole living room-bedroom is thus a transformable space.

With legs built from waste wood pieces, serves as a dining table or worktable.

That can be rolled from one spot to another and, by reconfiguring its cushions, used as a chaise longue to read on

Placed next to the bed, the two pieces of furniture transform into a social bed, and serve as a soft topography for different bodily positions.

That can be lowered or raised from the ceiling, turning this topography into a small auditorium to watch video projections, or the living room into a multimedia studio.

The design offers a system of multiple options, and it is the inhabitant who designs their home(s) according to the way they live their day-to-day life.

The house is a multi-use platform, a moulting haven

The house is a multi-use platform, a moulting haven.

Authors Husos Architects (Camilo García and Diego Barajas
with Marta Amírola, Almudena Tenorio, Elena del Cura, Iván Parra)
Client Niño de Elche
Location Madrid, Spain
Year 2020
Collaborators Husos and Fethallah Kadiri (Fabrics, with Husos),
Manisan S.L. (installations and woodwork), Verticales Formé (Carpentry)
Photography Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero) and Impresiones cotidianas
A Guy, a Bulldog, an Edible Garden, and the Home they Share Urbanisms of remittances, (Re)productive houses in Dispersion FPA Francesca Pasquali Archive Villa Bloch Bakkedragetb Le Pré aux Pierres Triplex Ampere First House

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