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Jul 19, 2023

This Flexible Apartment Renovation Adapts to Extend Its Lifespan

When life brings changes, one's home has to change too. Imagen Subliminal Living in the city often means making compromises. For many urban dwellers, that means giving up a larger living space for

When life brings changes, one's home has to change too.

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Living in the city often means making compromises. For many urban dwellers, that means giving up a larger living space for something a bit smaller—but perhaps closer to everything that an urban hub might have to offer, such as better job opportunities or access to cultural amenities like museums, theatres, and a wide variety of restaurants.

But residing in a smaller, older building doesn't necessarily mean having to put up with old ways of living. Often, a modern update to an antiquated apartment can make a huge difference in one's quality of living—and at the same time, allow one to reduce the upfront carbon emissions that come with constructing a completely new home. Globally, the building industry needs a radical reduction in upfront carbon emissions, and that means preserving, retrofitting, and reusing the buildings we already have.

On the ground, that translates to renovating apartments like this one in Madrid, Spain—a recent project undertaken by local firm Gon Architects (seen here previously). Dubbed Menta (Mint in English), the apartment's existing layout was awkward, cramped, and ripe for a change, as the architects explain:

The maze-like warren of disconnected spaces and the isolated kitchen has been replaced with something that flows much better; to start, the architects eliminated the walls closing off the kitchen.

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Instead, the new layout features a series of "five concatenated rooms, of different uses and sizes," each of them with their own functions and grouped according to their conventional uses. For instance, the bedroom is grouped with the bathroom; the living room is grouped with a large library area for reading; the kitchen is grouped together with the dining area and the entry, and the kitchen acts as a mediator between the living room and bedroom.

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Between the kitchen and living room, we have a set of large sliding doors with translucent polycarbonate panels that provide flexibility to the spaces. By opening or closing the doors, one can modify the level of privacy one desires or change how the spaces flow with the others.

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In addition, the design incorporates a number of space-expanding visual tricks, like these full-height mirrors in the kitchen and living room that give the illusion of space continuing beyond the walls. Additionally, one of these mirrors is actually a secret door to the bedroom.

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Each room has a common modular system of storage that runs from floor to ceiling, and which varies according to the room's function.

In terms of materials, the modules are clad with either marine wood panels, birch laminate, or a mint-green lacquer, which the designers say was inspired by the same color used by the Italian luxury fashion house Prada.

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The same visual sleight-of-hand happens in the bedroom, with its modular storage wall completely covered in mirrors, presenting the space as a larger one that it really is.

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A wooden door in the bedroom gives one access to the bathroom. The architects describe it as thus:

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Having updated this apartment to fit his current needs, Alex can now maximize and extend his use of these more flexible spaces for a much longer period of time, say the architects:

This particular renovation shows how baking in some flexibility and long-term adaptations for prolonging the lifespan of a home is something that many sustainability-minded designers should think about. To see more, visit Gon Architects.