Sto. Domingo Apartment
90 sqm refurbished flat with terrace in Ourense (Galicia).
The house is organized according to its vains and to the light it can get. The 'livable' rooms in which most activities are carried out are placed towards the exterior, while towards the inner courtyard we have placed the other rooms.
There is also second division between the public spaces and the private ones according to their uses.
Beginning in the hall we find two ways (although they might seem three if we don't notice the trompe l'oeil made by means of the mirror and the loose stone), marked by the discontinuous benches that get curved along the path. A library serves to divide them while crossing the midsection entirely, turning permeable in two points: the hall itself and the room connecting the dinning room with the kitchen, drawing therefore two verges enclosed by books.
The main areas of the house are connected by means of different resources. The pavement is used as counterpoint of the furniture to link atmospheres separated by it and the other way around, creating discontinuities in previously linked volumes. This way we create a sort of game of associations between living room, dinning-room and kitchen -or even terrace- that will get dissolved as we go into de deepest and most private part of the house.
Spatial links vs material links to distinguish the different uses.
The choice of hydraulic tiles is based on its natural positive qualities as much as on its meaning for the owner. The design has been completely customized to get the desired result.
Movable made-to-measure furniture was necessary to fit special requirements and to improve the overall usefulness of the house, so it is really important to understand the whole project.
The kitchen itself, located in the heart of the apartment (adjoining four different rooms), is a frequent transit point, although it can be totally isolated if needed by means of different easier or more difficult to perceive door-systems.
As the pavement drawings get blurred we get into the most private part, to which we should enter by using a small corridor full of wardrobes with lights that get turned on when detecting movement.
Once in the bathroom, there is only one “visible” door, given that a mirror hides a second door that takes to the main bedroom.
Two washbasins form a single piece natural acrylic stone made countertop. The mirror, lighted inside, seems to be hanging from a structure that doesn't break the visual connection between the hidden bath that need to be accessed using the shower tray.
Here we find a way to get into de main bedroom through the dressing room. Two different beech wood made volumes that hide devices and pieces that make them easy to be used. The main bedroom is in turn linked to the adjoining room by means of a rotatory bookcase that doesn't attract attention.
There are many possible uses for this room that can be a simple office or even a complete bedroom according to the property requirements.
Windows in the bedrooms (as in living room and kitchen) look at the exterior terrace, in which we have requested an intense cleaning and waterproofing labor to be able to build a new pavement and a loose stone area to make it easier to absorb water. The existing lock is replaced by a iroko-wood latticework.
Regarding the lighting, we have combined LED strips located in the ceiling, walls and pieces of glass with some secondary lights in very specific spots, using rails (dressing room), or cascading (bathroom), with heat detector (corridor), oriented (bar and hall) or underground spots.
Thanks as well to all the professionals who, with their careful and engaged work, contributed to achieving this outstanding result
