A project to transform a 1980s bungalow into a contemporary home. Because if anything has changed since the original house was built, it has been the design of the architecture. From new materials to drawing programmes, considering what a home can be like now offers very different possibilities. And the design of the interiors has also changed radically. With wooden balustrades, rough carpentry or poorly used spaces, the renovation of this bungalow has allowed Pablo Muñoz Payá

Arquitectos to contrast how know-how has evolved after forty years.At the entrance to the house, the old division between kitchen, living room, dining room and a small courtyard has been converted into a bright, open-plan ground floor. At the far end of the room, a five-seater L-shaped sofa creates a cosy space for sharing the television, framed by natural stone cladding. And at the end closest to the patio, an island organises the kitchen around everyday activities, as if it were a factory production line. A combined space to accommodate the whole family or group of friends at any time of the day. 

Meanwhile, the patio has an oven-barbecue, a small garden and a table to enjoy it when the weather is warm. The new patio is conceived as a space that is completely visible from the kitchen with sliding window frames that allow sunlight and green vegetation to enter the entire ground floor. For the evenings, the lighting system has also been carefully thought out, indirectly bathing the noble materials of the rooms. Meanwhile, the rest of the installations are hidden under the floor and ceiling. The rainwater collection in the courtyard is hidden in a small strip, opting for small, almost surgical cuts as opposed to the installation of drains; while the air conditioning is also distributed with concealed, almost imperceptible linear openings.

Even the staircase has been designed with intention. Located in front of the entrance hall, it allows the rest of the programme to be gathered underneath it. Thus, a toilet, a washing machine/dryer area and a pantry are grouped behind a lateral wooden cladding. The grooved wooden cladding helps to absorb sound to create a much friendlier and more comfortable acoustic on the most public floor of the house.

Conceived as a more intimate and secluded space, the layout of the upper part of the house has not required a radical transformation, but the layout of the partition walls has been optimised. Shortening the depth of the corridor, the master bedroom and the two secondary bedrooms have improved the distribution of the furniture. Bateig stone becomes a neutral headboard for the bed in the master bedroom, which manages to extend its dressing room and en-suite bathroom. 

With a predominance of light tones and natural touches, the interior design of this renovation is measured and pleasing. The use of natural materials such as stone and wood, the enlargement of spaces, the acoustic comfort and the careful lighting create a new home where you feel like living.