00:04We named the apartment Menta which translates to mint in Spanish. Our client was obsessed with
00:12this color that has been used by Prada in its shops since the 90s. It took over 10 color samples
00:20and going back and forth with our clients until we were able to get the shade and tone just right.
00:28It's quite dark because it's in the first floor of a building in the city center but the green walls
00:36give like a new light to the apartment. I'm Gonzalo Pardo, the creative director of GON Architects in Madrid.
00:52The apartment is located in a popular touristic and commercial area called Callao in Madrid.
01:01Callao it is in Gran Vía, one of the most lively and amazing streets in Madrid,
01:06thanks to its shops, theaters, hotels and restaurants. This building was built in 1934
01:16and it has always been a residential block. Alex, the owner of Menta, is a journalist and TV presenter.
01:25When he called us he was looking for a radical renovation of his flat. He doesn't cook a lot
01:31and he had many books so he needed us to reimagine the kitchen and create a more flexible storage.
01:43When we first saw the apartment it had vivid red walls and the exposed natural brickwork on the walls.
01:51There was a moderate-sized entrance hallway, an isolated galley kitchen with a bar counter that can be used
01:57from the living room, a bedroom and an ensuite bathroom.
02:04We started by removing the walls around the kitchen and added sliding doors to separate the new kitchen
02:11from the living room and we put the kitchen in the middle of the space. We add storage and a
02:17large
02:17bookcase in the living room. We relocated the entrance to the bathroom and replaced the bathtub with a shower.
02:29As you enter the apartment you'll notice a wall covered in floor-to-ceiling mirrors.
02:35It is a multi-pose wall and contains a hidden door to the bedroom,
02:41storage for household items, a laundry and an integrated fridge for the kitchen.
02:49There is a red steel Ikea cell for keys and magazines. It matches the red pipes in the corner of
02:55the room.
02:57The radiator is the original one that has been in the apartment since the apartment was built in the 30s.
03:05The original floors in the entrance, kitchen and living room were laminates, but in the bedroom there were
03:12mosaic parquet floors which our client liked so we decided to change the rest of the apartment to the same
03:18mosaic parquet floor.
03:23The new galley kitchen is in the heart of the apartment. For the doors we custom designed a green laminate
03:30that perfectly matches the green used by Prada. It is accented by the birch joinery.
03:36The main kitchen side has all white appliances and an integrated dishwasher. Next to the kitchen is a mirror wall
03:46that helps to visually extend the space and remove you from feeling like you are in the corner of a
03:51space.
03:52The wall also blocks the view of a possibly messy kitchen from the entrance.
04:00On the other side there is more kitchen storage with a niche for small appliances.
04:08The same soft LED lights in the kitchen and the entrance can also be found in other areas of the
04:15apartment.
04:19Divided the kitchen and living room are translucent floor-to-ceiling polycarbonate doors.
04:24They can be used in many different configurations and slide into a pocket in the wall when not in use.
04:33The translucent nature of the door allows light to pass between rooms while still providing privacy.
04:43The living room is quite spacious for a small apartment. We replaced the old windows with
04:50a single large street facing window. They can be used in many ways.
04:57The standout feature in the living room is the custom floor-to-ceiling modular book shelf that houses our
05:04clients entire book collection as well as the TV. We added closed storage along the bottom to hide other
05:12household items. There is a mirror on the wall to also give the illusion of more depth.
05:21We choose not to have ceiling lights in the living room but to use floor lamps like the limited edition
05:28Toyo lamp by Castiglioni. It gives a nice warm glow in the evenings.
05:34When guests stay over, the living room turns into a guest room. The sofa transforms into a bed and the
05:41sliding doors provide privacy for our clients and his guests.
05:49The bedroom is concealed behind one of the mirrors by the entrance.
05:54It surprisingly opens up to a spacious bedroom.
06:00The original bedroom had a large wall-to-wall closet with mirror doors which we extended to the
06:06ceiling. It really helps to enlarge the bedroom and matches well with the rest of the apartment.
06:16The entrance to the bathroom is hidden behind a birch wall.
06:21Our client wanted a black bathroom, something that resembles in the interior of a cave.
06:29We created a sense of coziness and tranquility.
06:33The tiles are rectangular in the entrance. Larger tiles were cut down to smaller rectangles to achieve
06:41this look. The sink, toilet and tubware are also in black. Wooden shelves were added as the only form
06:50of contrast in the bathroom. A mirror wall was added to once again create an illusion of faded depth.
07:00We added a cabinet here with integrated lights for our clients personal care items. It feels like you
07:08are taking items off of the shelf in a store.
07:14Designing a domestic space is always a challenge but when you have to design a small space
07:19it's a double challenge. So our philosophy is about choosing for sure.
07:26You have to be very precise in the selection of the materials and the spatial strategies you choose in
07:32order to get the maximum with the minimum. In Menta House we use the three clear spatial strategies.
07:39The first one is a floor to ceiling storage in every room. The second one is the use of mirror
07:46in order to
07:47duplicate the space of the of the house. And the third one is the use of two materials. The wood
07:54for the floor
07:54and the storage and also this green color that illuminates the whole house.
08:10This space has been built for a dimension of the use of inversely, της avanc
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