Kresala is a 70 square meters apartment located in the surroundings of the Old Town of Donostia, very close to La Zurriola beach. The building was constructed in 1.896, therefore it is more than a century old. When we first entered the space we found an old apartment (the shower was literally inside the kitchen and the floor presented an uneveness of over 20cm). Furthermore, everything was very compartmentalized and as a concecuence the contribution of natural light was very low. In fact, two of the rooms did not have any windows or ventilation, and therefore did not fullfill current regulations.
Despite everything, we immediately realized the potential it had, since it had a viewpoint facing south and this, added to the fact that it is a 4th floor, guaranteed us the entry of natural light and also the height of the ceilings exceeded those 3 meters. All interior partitioning and all false ceilings were demolished. We are left with only the perimeter walls of the apartment and we leave the pine wood structure visible.
When throwing all the partitions, we had to start from scratch to propose the new distribution. This had to respond to the needs of the whole family (marriage with a boy and a girl between 3 and 7 years old). For the family, it was very important to give priority to common spaces such as the living room, kitchen and dining room where they spend most of their time. Instead, they didn’t care that the children’s two bedrooms were small.
Another requirement was that they wanted a bathroom and a toilet. With the unevenness of the apartment we were able to put underfloor heating and this freed up the walls to later place the furniture. The material selection phase is very important to us. We pay special attention to the harmony between them, in color, in texture. In this case we opted for a porcelain floor for the entire apartment. In this way the underfloor heating transmits heat better.
In general, it has tended to neutral and soft colors and then play to put touches of color with the furniture. For the furniture, national brands such as Treku, Sancal, Santa & Cole and Scandinavian brands such as Woud, Muuto, Normann Copenhagen, Northern have been used. Lighting is another point that matters a lot to us when tackling a project. We like to choose aesthetically beautiful luminaires but, above all, that provide adequate light to each room, that is essential.
