The project is located in San Marcos, one of the neighborhoods that comprise the historic center of Quito. It is situated within a housing complex that occupies the original structure of a heritage adobe building with a wooden, tiled roof. The new residents of one of the apartments want to renovate the space to suit their daily needs. In addition to the functional elements already present in the home—kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, and bathrooms—they need a soundproof room for a sound studio and a small space for yoga. In its original state, the apartment contains a living room and kitchen, a bedroom with its own bathroom, and a loft that takes advantage of the double height. The loft is connected to the ground floor, which makes it impossible to carry out several activities simultaneously. Furthermore, there is not enough storage space for these two people and their belongings.
The proposed alternative scenario involves inserting a piece spanning the double height to divide the space and expand storage capacity. Additionally, a series of operations reuses and gives a second life to the existing furniture. The existing kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom furniture is painted a light color to brighten the space. The kitchen counter that protruded into the living room and reduced its space is removed. The necessary furniture is then reconfigured to create a new kitchen countertop. These actions reduce construction waste by optimizing the existing resources in the original apartment.
In this quest for optimization, the original apartment's water heating system was modified by removing a large water heater from the bedroom closet, which allowed the entire cabinet to be used for storage. A small electric water heater was installed in a new storage cabinet built in the empty space between the toilet and shower in the bathroom.
The added piece that separates the loft, which houses the sound studio and yoga space, from the ground floor consists of a wooden structure that extends to the kitchen. This structure supports new storage spaces in these three areas. This addition provides approximately three cubic meters of storage space, filling the void and freeing up interior space to optimize the small area. The wooden structure enters the kitchen and forms a tall piece of furniture that runs along three sides of the space, increasing its storage capacity. Additionally, three drawers for separate waste collection are installed in the space created by a window in the kitchen.
Finally, new furniture was developed under the staircase to store coats, shoes, cleaning supplies, and so on. Replicating what was done in the kitchen, the window opening in the living room was used to build three removable benches, providing greater versatility throughout the apartment.
