I Premio de Arquitectura Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre

The complete restoration of a protected building originally
built in 1900 and located on Buenos Aires street, number
6, has been proposed. The work has been projected by
the architect Fernando Navarro. When the project was
commissioned, the inside of the building was in functional
ruins, although its façade was not.
First of all, Warehouse Estudio 95, a company that
specialises in the sale of designer furniture, proposed the
full restoration of the building to be used for commercial
purposes, with two two–storey flats located on the upper
floors. The original building had three floors, each with
very high ceilings, which meant that the interior space
could be studied to create two additional floors, yet
preserving the original volumetric and the quality of the
interior space. Thus, wide, bright spaces were developed,
making the most of the surface together with the
enhancement of the building’s original material and the
new building techniques.
In a second stage, a section of the two–storey commercial
premises had to be converted into a flat. The client
wanted limited costs and an easy programme: kitchen,
bathroom, toilet and bedroom, all in an open-plan space,
where the original play of heights and projected spaces
would not be lost.
In both cases, the space problem was solved by using
the most basic resources available: light, materials such
as steel and concrete, wood and neutral colours for the
trimmings.
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