House 141 in Valme Street / Estudio Curtidores

Curated by Clara Ott

Architects: Estudio Curtidores
Area: 453 m²
Year: 2012
Photographs:Jesús Granada
Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Altherma Daikin, Collbaix, Cortizo, Cype
Lead Architects: Marta Fernández de Valderrama Aparicio, Francisco Escudero Gilete, Luz Fernández de Valderrama Aparicio

Text description provided by the architects. The project its about the rehabilitation of 141 doors: the opportunity to recycle 141 wooden doors which where recycle by the owner from an old warehouse. As result of this, the opportunity arises to generate an inner skin, which is capable of drawing spaces of different dimensions, expandable and reducible, as the leaves opens or closes from the heart of the house, putting light in and appropiating the patio in very different ways depending of the users desire. The house (the patio and its extensions), is a toy to be modified at any time and it adapts to the needs of privacy or continuity of its inhabitants, or to the needs of light, depending on the external climate, or the internal mood of the inhabitants. A continuous skin that allows the house to be constituted of multiple small spaces of the same nature, thanks to the continuity of this internal nature that the doors build (and their large and small openings that allow the passage of people and light), or to transform into a one single space that gives the occasion to party with friends, dinner for guests or evenings between the patio and terraces.

House 141 in Valme Street / Estudio Curtidores - Interior Photography, Glass, Column — © Jesús Granada

House 141 in Valme Street / Estudio Curtidores - Interior Photography, Glass — © Jesús Granada

The rooms are built according to this internal nature found in their materiality and in relation to the different outdoor spaces: the central courtyard, which expands in height, the small backyard, which allows the opening to the Buhaira’s garden through San Bernardo’s school, or the terraces with which the facade is sculpted according to the application of the local regulations. ... and the height of the plants is decided according to the size of the carpentry. According to this the play area is located, at the basement, where the two patios get undressed or come barefoot to the lowest and coolest area of the house. On the ground floor, rooms for work or for guests. On the first floor, the kitchen and the different rooms allows you to rest with family and friends: dining room and lounge. From this floor, the staircase, which is also a library, connects to the bedrooms, of parents and children (dressing rooms and bathrooms for each one of them) and above, where the staircase is transformed into a reading corner, is located the ascent to the attic, in which the machines required for the treatment of clothes hide in the furniture of the terrace, leaving the room free to be shared with this use, or be empty again to enjoy the company, the views of the roofs of San Bernardo and the nearby gardens.

A house without corridors, in exchange, rooms available to be used in many ways, depending on the will, desires and needs of the users, thanks to the magical game that the doors allow ... spaces for the valuable ... SITUATION The house presents a privileged situation as it has a boundary on its north face, with the San Bernardo School's courtyard which opens through this void, to the Buhaira’s Gardens. The project takes advantage of this opportunity by placing a small patio in that situation, thus introducing the garden and the sunrise, in the different rooms at the end of the house. The Patio is covered on the last floor trapping this important void that manages to decentralize the predominance of the central courtyard in these houses, to come into play with it through the doors and its possibilities.