PARLAMENT29 | MIEL Arquitectos

PARLAMENT29 is a rental apartment, designed together with STUDIO P10 from a project brief allowing a flexible response to all residential needs: cooking, working, relaxing, eating, personal hygiene, entertaining and household tasks, but overall sleep and relaxation. PARLAMENT29 aims to be an oasis of light and tranquillity in the heart of the bustling Sant Antoni neighbourhood. On entering, you are greeted by the poor condition of the steps of the old eixample, circa 1870. Situated on the third floor of a North facing shared party wall building, the flat of 48m2 feeds from the light that initially seemed condemned for use. Our strategy lay in connecting a happening of personal and social use around a Faraday Shield. A nest of peacefulness positioned at the centre of the space, infused by the light reflecting from the opposite buildings and courtyard. This light penetrates deeply into the eating – living – working area, and then through into the kitchen, hall and finally the bathroom. In this way the bedroom, a normally underused room during the day, turns into a passage of light and interior ventilation, and it’s form provides a sitting bench or even an improvised stage for those nights where time seems to stand still. Taking advantage of the flexibility offered by the inexistence of a fixed client, we have continued our investigation into everyday living and inhabitation. Testing little distortions and pushing the boundaries of ‘what is meant to be’: - The nest is wrapped with oak and becomes privatised through curtains and a sliding door. - The nest levitates between the guest bed and the air-conditioning units, sitting in a position of privileged isolation. - A door (which doubles as a blackboard) and a removable curtain test the ambivalent relationship between the kitchen and bathroom, with the sink situated in exile between the two. - The bathroom’s black tiles praise the shadows, searching for the poetic darkness of Tanizaki and his writing’s. TO BE CONTINUED…