Break-through Basics: Unplanned Domestic Prototype in San Sebastián by Ismael Medina Manzano.

When it comes to transcending boundaries in any field, there is often a requirement to have an innate understanding of the staple skill sets associated with said field. In art, you need to master the brushstrokes before you can start pulling them apart and abstracting the subject matter. UK based musicians ‘Febeuder’ do this with music, where they throw in a beat where least expected, and where it most belongs. Their songs take a turn in directions not listed on the map, ending up at the desired destination nonetheless. This unconventional method leaves a rewarding result and allows questioning of the norm and what has been done before.

Design is no different, and architect Ismael Medina Manzo is here to prove that with his Unplanned Domestic Prototype, the refurbishment of an 80-square-metre apartment embedded within a 1966-built structure in San Sebastian, Spain.

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In 1959, Spain went through a period of induced economic recovery, and as such, a stabilisation plan was introduced which resulted in the creation of standardised, efficient and painfully nuclear apartment buildings. This was exactly what Medina Manzano wanted to challenge in his prototype, exploring how one might challenge these rigid frameworks through material use and spatial reorganisation. The central curved ceramic wall thus becomes a device for capturing this, on the one hand an aesthetic intervention, on the other, a manner of storage and programmatic direction.

Beyond this green swoop sits a series of cabinets, storage spaces, pantries and shelves, punctured by a sandstone insert, its geological layers revealed in section. This portal reveals to us the other side of the apartment whilst simultaneously delivering commentary on the local landscape and stone extraction methods by using a material synonymous with San Sebastian. On the flip side, tricks are played with the mirrored casework that becomes an extension of the green tiles, concealing kitchen appliances and pushing further away from the nuclear-domestic, subsequently loosening up what would have been a rather constrained space.

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Portrait of Ismael Medina Manzano.

Axonometric drawing, courtesy of Ismael Medina Manzano.

The furnishings feel entirely mobile and flexible, and have been designed in such a manner to promote just that. They also promote sustainable design practices, as they have been made from reused national granite and discarded structures from local carpentry workshops, as well as local materials, like reused tree roots and aluminum and steel sourced from a nearby metallurgical factory. This plays into the prototype’s desire to challenge how we occupy and adjust spaces to suit growing needs, both socially (culturally) and environmentally.

The use of primary reds and blues (read: bathroom) also offer an immediate modernisation of the space, alongside the central focus that is the green-tiled monster (but in a Monsters Inc. kind of way). There are softer moments too, the mint and pink milkshake shades binding the granites and stone and ultimately, establishing this apartment as a modern European design experiment that has well and truly paid off.

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[Images courtesy of Ismael Medina Manzano. Photography by Hiperfocal.]