A Lively Diorama: Artistas Apartment in Madrid by Nomos Architects.

Nomos Architects‘ latest apartment renovation is creating the illusion of a life-sized ‘pop-collage’. Residing on the third level of a building fronting Madrid’s Artistas Street in Tetuan, the eponymous 58-square-metre compact home overlaps and layers varied elements that allow history to seamlessly intertwine with the present.

Set within a 20th-century building made of unique arched structures that function as load bearers, the original layout consisted of the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living, all arranged in parallel with the corridor — practical yet deemed cramped for the client. The lack of open space catalysed a brief that required an understanding of efficient spatial planning, giving a heart to the home and allowing social spaces that would embrace the external views of the city.

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The apartment’s orientation towards the main street and the courtyard can be perceived as mirroring a circadian sequence. By retaining the original load-bearing walls, Nomos amalgamated spaces by removing partitions parallel to the corridor. Towards the right of the apartment entrance, where once the kitchen and the bathroom were tucked, space was reconfigured into a bedroom and study to embrace the quiet dark of the courtyard at night.

To allow a place of gathering, the kitchen and bathroom were relocated to the centre, effectively compartmentalising all the services together. This strategy allowed for additional storage, cleanly designed with timber cupboards to lighten the space. The latter end, formerly a bedroom that looked out towards the street ambience is transformed into a living and dining space, and one can be turned into a private space should the door be closed.

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Moreover, the raw, stripped, and textural mixture of exposed red brick, granite, aged concrete and timber are cut and pasted on top of each other. With the numerous arched openings framed between the open kitchen and bathroom area, circular notes introduced at the end of the granite island bench or rotatable mirrors balance themselves at each architrave. Added some lines of jade offset against the mustard joinery anchored at the heart of the apartment, we have a lively space despite its small-scale footprint.

As the street name does invite a bit of pun and expectation into the design, Nomas Architects have placed their artistic license into the tiny apartment. Almost bringing a bit of Cubism and De Stijl (but in raw materiality), the play in designing this space is palpable.

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[Images courtesy of Nomos Architects. Photography by Asier Rua.]