Influenced By Travelling, A Madrid Home Of International Inspiration
Designed by Sierra + De La Higuera, this Madrid home is located in a 1940's era building of the city's bohemian Conde Duque district, wonderfully embodies it's clients personalities. With it's homeowners avid travellers - the couple are Mexican and Galician - and wanting to bring part of their origins and lives to Madrid, the family yearned to introduce their differing heritages to their new home. The result, a project that portrays a quest to find colour in Madrid, a characteristic marked by the owners’ journeys and origins.
Undertaken as a complete refurbishment of the apartment, the home's entire layout has changed with many walls removed to make the space as open plan as possible. Whilst most architecture in Madrid typically has lots of small rooms, here they transform the space into being more open-plan, best utilising the incoming natural light, complete with a series of wonderful arches and well placed windows to make every space flow into one another.
The architects focused on vivid colours: bright yellows, greens, blues and reds, paired with materials like tiles, ceramics and fine wood, with all complementing one another as you move between the spaces. Each are materials brought from distant, exotic locales, and work very nicely either if seen from a distance or up close. Details such as white tile combine with blue, red or yellow in different areas, all made complete by fine arch frames to frame the different zones and timber material to provide another natural colourway to root the design.
The entrance hall features this wooden box feature that separates two zones: the kitchen-dining room, inspired by Mexico, and the terraces and living room, inspired by Singapore. The latter was designed with tile in a very linear yellow and white surface which pops even more when the sunlight hits it. With Spanish culture also embodying such bright colours, the international influence is there to be seen throughout the design, yet equally feels all so at home in it's location.
In contrast, glazed green tiles were used in the kitchen to offer a different sense of space in the open-plan apartment, for which the colourings continue to furnishings to echo one another and feel more cohesive. From the same room, a large bookshelf runs around the kitchen and flows into the dining room and living room area, where much of the family's time is spent. Accordingly, this element is very important to the family, with such a furniture piece holding all the objects they have collected on each of their journeys as well as all their books.
With a private area bedroom that provides the home's true cosiness, the architects designed custom cabinetry for the space, complete with a cloud-grey coloured carpet, all in all to convey calmness and evoke Galicia.
Project / Brand: Sierra + De La Higuera
Photography: German Sáiz