Maison Carlos Ortega

With an extremely low budget of $6000 dollars the refurbishment for the apartment of fashion designer Carlos Ortega was done in a period of just 6 weeks and with the client already occupying the site.

The intervention aimed to create a very clear division between public and private areas. The public areas serve both as the living room of the apartment and as a showroom for the client's brand. The private areas on the other hand needed special emphasis on the storage and grooming areas where the client could store his clothing collection along with his own creations and that can be used at the same time as a dressing room for his clients. These areas are separated by a twisting wall of panels that span from the kitchen on to the bedroom on a diagonal axis. A twist in the base of this wall enlarges the available floor area in the bedroom generating sufficient space for a desk and at the same time maintaining the spatial sensation on the outside.

A similar twisted wall crosses the opposite wall adding a large shelving space for the client’s book collection and to exhibit some of his clothes.

The whole refurbishment was done with OSB panels to maximize the budget with some details tinted in several different colors in the living room and on shades of gray for the single bedroom. These tinted stripes follow different color sequences going from yellow to white when viewed from the entrance towards the windows, yellow to red from the window towards the kitchen and from black to white inside the bedroom.

This project won a Merit Award at the 2011 Best of Year Awards of Interior Design Magazine, held on December 1st 2011 in New York City.