HUB flat | ch+qs - Churtichaga+Quadra-Salcedo arquitectos

Where did the idea for the punctured holes in the walls come from?

The idea of transforming a space through subtracting comes from the fabulous work of Gordon Matta Clark. Through his work, we saw the opportunity to “add a subtraction” that could allow communication between spaces without loosing the history of the 50s flat that we wanted to preserve

Is the design still practical as a living space given the fact that even the doors and roof have been carved?

Yes and no…we have preserved almost two rooms without holes, so to maintain the intimacy only needed in the dorms

Is there a structure to where you have placed the holes?

There is a huge hidden work analyzing with 3d tools the size, position, of the geometric forms. We decided to use 2 virtual spheres and a big virtual cone to transform the space in such a way that a new landscape of situations appears…we had to work hard with sketchup analyzing the way to cross the whole space allowing visions “fugues” and surprising situations

This is a follow on from Oficinas HUB Madrid, does this flat relate to that project?

Yes , absolutely.
It is physically linked through the main condominium stair but also through a terrace.
The idea for the Hubflat is to protect long term users from the interferences of the events happening in the main Hub…so now we have a more balances space combination between events and coworking.

Why did you decide to keep the original features of the flat?

We were in love with an untouched flat from the 50s, a very logic and rational structure of rooms from different sizes along a central corridor…in some way this classic structure allowed us to understand that this was also a good organization for almost any use…we only needed to link more…but without “loosing the flat”…how can we keep and restore in one hand but at the same time transform completely the attitude inside?...this is how we thought…let´s add unphysical forms, space, erase, cut, clean…