00:03The apartment is in the old town of Sevilla, in Spain.
00:09Our clients themselves frequently travel around Europe in their camper van,
00:14which influences our design approach.
00:19The concept was to create a single piece of furniture
00:22that would run along the entire side of the house and serve as storage,
00:27freeing up as much space as possible for flexibility.
00:32The clients were looking for a flexible space to use as a home office,
00:36a space to do yoga and exercise, to play the keyboard
00:39and at the same time be able to host guests when they come to visit.
00:44My name is Javier Salvador.
00:46And I am Yao Garcia.
00:48And we are architects and founders of HIMAS Studio.
00:58Sevilla is the second largest historic city in the world.
01:02It is a city with a strong influence of Roman and Arab architecture,
01:07with narrow streets and three or four-story buildings.
01:11The facade of this apartment building faces a small south-facing square,
01:16making it something really special.
01:19Everyone is really friendly, like a small community.
01:26This apartment was built in the 1970s, with mainly families and young workers.
01:32The flat was in very poor condition.
01:36The layout consisted of small boxes, making three really tiny bedrooms,
01:41and a dark and elongated living room and corridor.
01:44It also comes small storage or laundry room on the rooftop of the building.
01:49We demolished two bedrooms, creating a single space for kitchen,
01:54dining room and living room.
01:55So the spaces most used during the day were turned towards the south facade.
02:01The kitchen was replaced by the flexible room, which is open most of the time,
02:06eliminating the feeling of a corridor in the house.
02:13Once you enter the apartment, there is a wall made from birch plywood,
02:18with a full high storage cupboard with push to open hidden doors,
02:22where the client can put coats and shoes.
02:27The floor is covered in the same large cement stone tiles throughout the apartment,
02:32which looks great against the white and the birch wood of the apartment.
02:38The living room, kitchen and dining room are in one open space.
02:43In the living area, we place the sofa and the lawn chair near the balcony,
02:47so that when the balcony door is open, the living space extends to the outdoor area.
02:53We decided to change all the original double-leaf windows
02:56and replace them by single ones made of natural Iroko wood,
03:00so the clients have less abstracted views through the windows
03:03and have better access to the small balcony with plants,
03:07maintaining a bit the Andalusian tradition,
03:09to have these small oases in the houses.
03:13Next to the balcony door, we have a low storage unit.
03:16It's an old piece of wardrobe that the owner upcycled and turned it into a storage unit,
03:23where the client placed their record player and record collection.
03:29It's a postman, yeah.
03:36Opposite the living area, we designed one large kitchen unit that fills the whole wall.
03:41It's packed with storage and the kitchen bench extends into the dining area.
03:47Adjacent to the kitchen window, floor-to-ceiling storage creates a space like a walk-in pantry.
03:53So the client, when they are in the living room, they don't see the mess.
04:00The kitchen top and the island is made 90% of white quartz and 10% resin.
04:09We decided to put the kitchen island in the middle,
04:12in order to have a central space where you can have a breakfast,
04:16maybe a quick dinner,
04:18but also like a central point of the house when you have guests.
04:22Yeah, you can socialize there.
04:27The dining nook comes with storage below and above the bench.
04:33Three shelves were left open for clients to display their favorite things.
04:40To make the dining nook cozier and to make the whole unit look like one large piece of furniture,
04:46we installed floor-to-ceiling birch plywood at the corner of the wall.
04:51The dining table is from Luffe, a Spanish company,
04:54and it's made of Spanish local pine, chosen by the clients themselves.
04:59The yellow hanging lamp above the table is from IKEA, to add a bit of color.
05:08Next to the living room, we have what we call the flexible space.
05:13Most of the time this area functions as an extension of the living room.
05:19Sometimes it can be used as an office when the clients are working from home,
05:22or it can also be transformed into a guest bedroom with a folding bed.
05:28We hide the curtain in a cube hidden rail.
05:32The curtain is actually made by the homeowner's mother using all the curtains that they have.
05:38The curtain provides privacy and light protection.
05:42But if you don't need it, you can still keep a really big open space in the apartment.
05:52The bedroom is near the entrance.
05:55We tried to keep the bedroom quite simple, using the same birch plywood throughout the apartment
06:01to create a large wardrobe for the clients.
06:06One section of the wardrobe has 60 cm deep storage, where clients can store bulky items, such as clothing, luggage
06:13or large belongings.
06:16Instead of using door knobs, we opted for cut-outs, as it creates a visually cleaner look.
06:23The interesting part of the bedroom is the south-facing window, aligned with the kitchen window and the window at
06:30the front of the apartment,
06:31so you can see all the way through to the facade of the building opposite the street.
06:40Behind one of the hidden wooden doors at the entrance is the bathroom.
06:44The same floor tiles continue seamlessly from the rest of the apartment, except for the shower area.
06:50The vanity and toilets are floating off the ground, creating the sense of more floor.
06:58We cover this shower wall with ivory and blue tiles, making a frame as you enter in the bathroom.
07:05This is a gentle reference to the Andalusian tiling tradition.
07:12We created a niche for storing gel and shampoo bottles.
07:20In Sevilla, it's quite common to have storage on the rooftop, where they do the laundry.
07:25So they can wash the clothes, and after that, they can hang the clothes in the lines.
07:31And because it's a city with a lot of sun, in one hour, you can have your clothes completely dry.
07:39One of the keys to designing a small home is to create a space that's flexible and can serve multiple
07:45functions.
07:46By combining uses and maximizing the space, you can make your everyday life more comfortable and enjoyable, rather than having
07:55separate, independent areas.
07:57One of the strategies is to use the fewer materials as possible, so you can always give to the clients
08:04a neutral space, and they are going to fill it with color, plants, personal items.
08:11Yeah, it's like giving to the clients a versatile canvas to express themselves, and shape as their lives change and
08:20grow.
08:20And that's all.
08:22By combining, it takes time to have a sense of saving color, when we've learned how to make it clear
08:27the scope.
08:27I have this whole journey of the outside and the outside and the outside, but I do not know how
08:30to make it clear the scope.
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