La casa blanca. | ideo arquitectura

A resounding commitment to white as a symbol of a new beginning. A traditional house in Madrid doomed to ostracism reformed in white.

The essentials of this dwelling were hidden like an exquisite music box forgotten in the attic. This jewel silently screamed, begging to be discovered and freed.

Heights of four meters dwarfed by absurd false ceilings, large rooms divided into dark rooms, and solid wooden doors powdered in successive layers of cheap paint, are the primary elements of the box that had to be uncovered.

When Virginia del Barco visited the house, she immediately saw the potential. Before leaving, she told the client that she would make her a “white house”. Understanding white, not as a color, but as a material to work with.

One of the associations of the color white is nothingness. In architecture, it is the representation of emptiness, that which is devoid of matter.

To start working, we made a plaster cube in the studio workshop, and with a chisel we began to dig. We removed material until the interior was empty. We realized that by proposing a series of vaults in the ceilings, we would eliminate shadowy corners. Not only that, we would be able to increase the total surface of light, and also, give the illusion of higher ceilings.

The music box now begins to undress. Light flows pure.

THE DISTRIBUTION. We changed the entire distribution of the house. For the entrance, we proposed a white concrete dividing wall made on site, consisting of several ‘sails’ separated from each other allowing light to flow in from the patio, through the kitchen and into the entrance hall.

The wall grows, separates, twists itself... It hides six shoe cabinets, a coat closet and the room for aerothermal installations. And in its quest to reach the unattainable ceiling, it offers a unique and singular perspective of the house’s architecture.

The slenderness of the sails is striking. Its strength and vigor transport the inhabitant as soon as they enter the house into a safe, calm space, where nothing bad can happen.

The kitchen is another collaboration with Amarillocromo.com. The proposed furniture is in white varnish, and the countertops a green marine granite stone.

A ‘non- molding’ carved into the walls silently runs through the entire space. Several proposals were made and due to budget issues, we left it to its minimal expression.

The choice of flooring was a difficult decision. At ideo we avoid the use of artificial materials. From the start, we knew it had to be white, but white is a risky choice in houses. It should also provide luminosity and vitality. After receiving innumerable samples from different manufacturers, we found a Huguet.com terrazzo tile with green marble pieces (“palais high density” model). It was a very lively green. We knew immediately that it would fit all our requirements. It would bring freshness, offsetting the sober character of the project. “Asunción saw it clearly when I took her to the job site. Robert had to wait to see it finally installed to understand our vision.”

As for the interior doors of the house, despite the complete change in distribution, we reused all of them since they were in perfect condition. Some of them changed in use and served as closet doors.

The photographs make it seem as though lighting is non-existent. We worked with this notion to take the main idea of the project to its purest form. The carved cube unveils itself neat. The luminaires are embedded deep within the vaults, hidden from plain sight.

In the girls' bathroom we decided to play a little bit. We took a chance with two dog-shaped pieces (Amsterdan model) by the Italian firm Karman.com. What is purity without a stain, what is beauty without the beast?

In addition, we made a nod to the old Arab baths, where natural light is filtered through small holes in the vaults. If we join the gazes of the ‘infantas’ (name of the street where the house is located) in the famous painting by Velázquez, the result is a twisted line similar to the Corona borealis constellation. The stary line is transported to the vaulted ceiling of the bathroom. It is an intimate metaphor, light as the birth of life, life as a new beginning.