Gracia House
The project consists of the renovation of an existing 130-sqm apartment into a double dwelling in a 1970s building. Casa Gra- cia derives from a doppelgänger distribution, resulting in two almost symmetrical apartments with visually equal perspectives, producing a series of hexagonal rooms indifferent to their program or orientation. Equally-placed, symmetrical openings lead to different uses depending on its location in the plan.
Casa Gracia is a step forward in our exploration of inefficient plans and reinforces our goal to demonstrate the possibilities that spatial structures have in diluting domestic conventions. The project is understood as a spatial system indifferent to the site in which is implemented, continuing the spatial strategy of previous projects, here amplified by the introduction of a second-tier system of interlocking anterooms that function at times as connecting hallways or storage. These intermediary spaces derive from our interest in twofold spatial compositions and are a reenactment of many architectural references, from Loosian interiors, to Gaudi’s Casa Vi- cens or Caccia Dominioni’s double doorways. The system, conceptual- ly generic whilst physically specific, negates any relationship to perimeter, program nor orientation.
Materially speaking, the palette is reduced to a continuous floor plane, that holds each house’s distinctive color code, made out of a simple mosaic. The spatial grid is highlighted by a series of lightweight and autonomous pieces of furniture that hold domestic appliances and storage. It’s bright, loud colors are in contrast with the interior’s restrained and subdued material palette. The placement of mirrored surfaces across the home dilutes the project’s limits and amplifies a spatial system eager to expand itself beyond the phys- ical space in which it is applied.
