VILAMARI APARTMENT
Reflections and diagonals in a tube apartment
This project presents the renovation of an apartment located in the Eixample district of Barcelona. It is not a modernist building, instead is the typical 1980 construction flat, simple and with no architectural features. The apartments are long, narrow, with long corridors and little natural light.
The clients wanted to turn the flat into a charismatic and architectural space with few changes. So, how could we turn around a flat with so little initial charm and negative conditioning factors?
Layout
Five large openings were made in the long walls of the apartment, in order to merge the spaces and achieve diagonal visuals. The diagonals in a house generate a greater sense of spatiality: because they are longer than the front view and because they cross several rooms and atmospheres enhancing what you see.
Some systems of sliding or folding doors are inserted in the open spaces acting as a membrane, allowing rooms to be confined or to generate a large space depending on privacy needs. When the mobile systems are open, the apartment becomes an open and flexible space, allowing natural lighting to enter the central area, where it did not previously exist.
Materials
Wood is the conductive material providing warmth. Green breaks the harmony to give it personality at key points. The third material and most important are the metallic elements, since in such narrow houses they provide lightness. In addition, the mirrors and stainless steel (which act as mirrors) multiply the diagonals that end in the main façade, causing the view to bounce outwards and natural light to bounce inwards.
