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Icy mirrors and warm colors, 67 m² in Madrid
A muy caliente clash of materials at Enrique’s
67 m²
Cosy minimalism
Trendy
One-bedroom
Plutarco
For Sloft+ members only
This Home Tour is from
Sloft Edition 04
Enrique Ventosa finally found what he was looking for on the third floor of a 1920s building: "Prices just kept going up in the center of Madrid, so I searched in Palos de la Frontera. It’s the kind of neighborhood where you still find mom and pop shops – along with many buildings with huge potential." As an architect (he co-directs the Plutarco studio alongside Ana Arana), Enrique wasn’t worried about the initial layout of the place: "Just like other typical Madrid apartments of the time, the plan was labyrinthine – a long corridor with numerous doors leading to small rooms, and a separation between the dining and living room." But on the other hand, the flat had precious assets: high ceilings (over three meters) and three southwest-facing balconies.
"I needed an open, versatile place in order to change the way I felt about space. This is why there’s only one door in the flat, and the various rooms can be redefined depending on the use we make of them. At Plutarco, we think that adaptability is key." Curtains thus play a fundamental role, making the bedroom more intimate by separating it from the other rooms, and they act as background in the dining room while hiding storage space and a desk. Enrique used T-shaped floor plan to organize the living areas and chose a shiny finish for the ceiling to highlight the continuity of the space. The walls in the bathroom, kitchen and wardrobe were defined at 240 centimeters for cohesion, and to give free reign to the glimmering lake-like surface.
The colors are a tribute to the La Roche and Jeanneret houses in Paris, in which
"each floor plan has its own color scheme, and they all match perfectly": warm beige on the walls, aqua green on the ceiling, and terracotta for the accents like the tinted woodwork, inspired by Ettore Sottsass’ excellent work for Alpi. Materials also play a strong role in infusing the place with soul: the oak floor contrasts with the red paneling of the wall shelving and the dark oak table, while the white tiling with red grout in the bathroom and kitchen contrasts with the black, shiny tile at the entrance of the dining room, much like the Japanese torii door that separates the living room from the rest of the house.
Enrique Ventosa, at home. “I believe that mixing materials, colors and possibilities is the perfect recipe for happiness. It inspires me in my daily life and who I am as a person.”
