La costura | JAO Arquitectura

"The work of connection, sensitive and methodical that the tailor performs in the limits, is manifested in THE SEAM"

The Seam comes from the act of joining two duplex apartments, in a building of the sixties located in the marina of Almerimar, Almería.

One of the apartments had already been refurbished, and we decided to respect as much as possible this reform, which was in a perfect condition. The apartment that merges, is reformed in an integral way, a complete demolition took place in which the original structure of beams and metallic pillars is revealed.

The existing one, the new one, and their meeting in the border.

The spaces that will remain between both houses are: the entrance, the kitchen and on the top floor, the entrance to the main rooms. It is, in these areas, where this "seam" is shown through the materials, the color, the surprise element...

The entrance takes the land color of the original ceramic floor of the building, which link us with the origin of what the house was and this area sews the two different porcelain floors between the two homes.

For the kitchen is chosen the same floor in a greenish blue color. This is a passage space, with all the typical kitchen tools packaged in a wall that separates with the entrance, and a central kitchen island made entirely in wood, as a resounding meeting element.

The distribution on the ground floor is made with different connected areas, creating a fluid space and a continuous lines, which will host the different activities that will take place over time.

A single staircase is left, the one from the first apartment, with its original wood, the void of the other staircase is kept and this space is emphasized like one that flows in height and escapes through a skylight located on the roof.

On the first floor, through a hole in the existing wardrobe, marked with color, is created "a secret door" that encloses the main rooms space.

A series of bands, from east to west, configure the spaces of rooms, dressing room and main bathroom, with the possibility of delimiting them with panels, curtains... concatenated spaces, with the possibility to transform.

The original structure is revealed and painted in black, thus that those original lines are emphasized, like the drawing of a fixed grid in a changing space.