Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg is known for his theory of the "third place". According to him, one's sense of personal fulfilment is derived from having beyond the realms of home and workplace an informal space where social bonds are formed.
Coworkand coliving are part of these new third-place-spaces created to develop human activity for the new generation of citizens, people that understand workspace and home as a service, but a service that has to be aligned with their aspirations and beliefs, a place that give them a sense of “belonging”.
We refurbish this residential building from the 60s in a quiet traditional neighbourhood of Madrid, transforming traditional oversized apartments into a coliving experience for 20 people.
This is a whole community, where every room has a private bathroom, and they share a whole set of common areas as kitchen, coworking place, living room, bike parking, amazon lockers, a private fridge in the kitchen area…and a fantastic terrace to enjoy Madrid´s weather.
Who are the users of this community? Mainly workers that come for a short mission to Madrid or people enjoying their first job, postgrad students…and even now a football player lives here and defends the advantages of sharing.
The aim of the project was to respect and enhance the memory of the old building, keeping some of the character but transforming it in a vibrant space to live. It has been a great exercise of adaptive reuse, and we think this is the way to bring new life to the historical and central neighbourhoods.
