In DELTA, storage is no longer a scattered element but becomes a home infrastructure that centralizes objects, frees up space, and creates a sense of continuity throughout the home.

DELTA is the renovation of a 64-square-meter apartment located on the sixth floor of a building in Madrid’s Argüelles neighborhood, designed for a family of four.. The apartment is 14.20 meters long and 3.10 meters wide at its narrowest point, and has two patios: a small, interior one and a spacious, exterior one that opens onto the center of the city block. From the larger patio, two balconies offer views of the imposing lantern tower of the Church of the Immaculate Heart on Ferraz Street.

The original layout, which reflected the principles of functionality and efficiency of the time, consisted of a series of similarly sized rooms (bathroom, kitchen, bedrooms, and living room) that were unrelated to one another. These rooms, which opened onto the interior courtyard, were connected by a narrow hallway, further reinforcing the spatial fragmentation of the house.

The major challenge of this renovation is to create, in a small space and based on the long, narrow layout of the original apartment, a living environment capable of meeting the needs of a family. This requires defining distinct private areas and dividing the home into sections without sacrificing spatial continuity, fluidity, and architectural quality.

To this end, a clear and decisive spatial organization scheme is proposed: concentrating storage in a continuous strip and freeing up the rest of the floor area for various domestic activities, minimizing the space allocated to private areas in favor of common areas.

The strategy takes the form of a continuous storage band attached to the shared wall that runs through the home from the entrance to the balconies. This floor-to-ceiling storage system not only improves the space’s acoustic conditions but also organizes and stores everything that is part of daily life: backpacks, suitcases, shoes, and clothing; kitchen utensils, dishes, silverware, pots, and pans; the heat pump, linens, books, and board games, among many other items.

Alongside this storage area, a hallway runs through the home and, like a river delta, opens up, branches out, and widens, creating unique spatial configurations and unexpected perspectives. This is the case of the bathroom-dressing room, located at the heart of the home and flanked by the two bedrooms. The toilet cabin is set apart, while the mint-green ceramic tile unifies the entire room, transforming it into a shared space that encourages family interaction. The same is the case for the kitchen, which is situated in a widening of the hallway, creating a trapezoidal space that facilitates its simultaneous use by different members of the family.

A system of mirrors strategically placed along the hallway visually expands the space while also creating reflections that evoke a sense of openness toward other virtual places.

Finally, the living-dining room marks the end of the layout and is the last room in the home, as well as its most spacious and open area. A pillar and a beam painted bottle green mark the entrance to this common space, which opens onto the city and the skyline of Madrid through two large windows with glass railings. These windows promote visual and spatial continuity while providing light and ventilation to the interior. The space is organized through a system of lightweight objects that allows its layout to be transformed according to the needs of the moment: from doing homework or sitting down to read a book in the sun, to spreading out a blanket on the floor and eating pizza as a family on a Friday night.

DELTA also transforms the hallway, from a space intended exclusively for circulation, into an element that structures domestic life. Through its widened sections, variations in materials and colors, and the influx of natural light, the corridor becomes a succession of spaces that connect, separate, bring together, and blur boundaries (interior/exterior, open/ closed, public/private), redefining the way we live.

Team:

Architects: gon architects

Lead Architect: Gonzalo Pardo

Design Team: Carol Linares, María Cecilia Cordero, Sara Mordt, Maria Konstantinidou

Construction: REDO Construcción

Kitchen: CUBRO

Carpentry: Tablas Alcobendas

Photographer: Imagen Subliminal