Nada reconfigures a 1920 townhouse near Valencia through a strategic intervention that opens up its interior structure to flexible, evolving modes of living.
In the historic center of El Puig, a small town outside Valencia, Spanish practice Nada has transformed a neglected early-20th-century townhouse through a restrained but decisive architectural gesture. Faced with a façade protected for its heritage value and an interior heavily modified by past interventions, the project avoids restoring a nostalgic image and instead reframes the space by working from its structural logic
Reorganizing from the center
The pivotal move was relocating the staircase, previously confined to the edge of the plan, to a more central position. This subtle shift liberates the layout, allowing spaces to flow more naturally and enabling future adaptations. The new staircase is not conceived as a visual statement, but functions as an organizing device, structuring the interior while maintaining a quiet material presence.
Positioned along the entrance bay, the staircase marks a threshold between the public-facing spaces and the more private areas beyond. Its form responds to the constraints imposed by the existing load-bearing walls, while its understated materiality reinforces its role as a spatial rather than expressive element.
An open, flexible domesticity
By eliminating corridors and organizing a continuous sequence of rooms, the project maximizes usable surface and establishes a sense of spatial fluidity. Each space becomes simultaneously a place to inhabit and to circulate through. The configuration anticipates change over time, allowing new partitions or uses to emerge without disrupting the core logic of the plan.
Constructing density
To evoke the tactile density of the original building, Nada introduced new thickened interior walls — not structurally load-bearing — that conceal integrated storage, services, and contemporary installations. On the ground floor and in the patio, the material palette draws on local tradition: handmade ceramic tiles, marble, natural timber, and limewashed surfaces define a restrained, tactile atmosphere. Upstairs, a continuous timber floor surface links the rooms, reinforcing the perception of spatial unity.
Some original timber window frames were restored, while others were replaced with new systems recessed into the wall thickness, emphasizing the dialogue between interior and exterior spaces.
A silent strategy
Rather than relying on overt formal gestures, Nada proposes an architecture that is silent yet strategic, reorganizing daily life through minimal but transformative moves. The result is a structure designed not to be looked at, but to be lived through, enabling a more fluid, adaptable relationship between architecture and time.
Team:
Project: Beat Jofré
Design: Nada – Borja Hernández and Arcadi Martín
Photography: Daniel Rueda
