Ruiz Apartment

Located in the Malasaña neighbourhood, in central Madrid, this 50 m² apartment begins with a clear initial condition: an inward-facing dwelling with limited natural light. Daylight primarily enters from the building’s main courtyard, which meant that the original layout resulted in a fragmented space where light barely reached the interior areas.

The project therefore emerges as an exercise in spatial reorganisation aimed at maximising the path of natural light throughout the home. The new configuration removes unnecessary barriers and allows light from the courtyard to penetrate deeper into the interior, creating a more open and luminous spatial perception.

The intervention is structured around a central volume of bespoke joinery that organises the floor plan and accommodates much of the storage. This element acts as the backbone of the apartment, defining circulation routes and establishing transitions between different spaces without interrupting visual continuity.

The materiality of the project is based on a dialogue between wood, ceramics and colour. All the walls of the apartment have been finished with natural clay plaster, a choice that reinforces the tactile character of the interior and reflects a commitment to natural materials. The subtle texture of the clay allows natural light to fall across the surfaces, creating tonal nuances and chromatic variations throughout the day, adding depth and a warm atmosphere to the space.

Against this neutral material base, a colour palette is introduced in which terracotta — one of the client’s preferred colours — takes centre stage, combined with soft greens in the kitchen cabinetry.

The kitchen is conceived as the domestic core of the home, open to the main living space and connected to the dining area. Hydraulic mosaic flooring defines this zone and acts as a reference to the traditional floors found in many apartments within this early twentieth-century building.

One of the most distinctive elements of the project is the living room cabinet that separates the entrance hall from the sitting area. This piece incorporates textured glass inspired by the glazing found in the stairwell courtyard windows of the building. The glass filters light between rooms, adding depth and establishing a subtle relationship with the building’s material memory.

The transition between the entrance area and the main space is resolved through a curved wall that replaces the conventional corner where the bathroom access is located. This geometric gesture softens the internal circulation and allows light to flow more continuously into the apartment, gently washing the surfaces as it moves inward.

In the bedroom, the storage system is integrated into a continuous joinery element that incorporates a small terracotta-finished desk, creating an intimate workspace within the room.

Artificial lighting is conceived primarily as indirect and punctual, reinforcing a calm domestic atmosphere. Together with textiles in neutral tones, it contributes to a serene environment that contrasts with the urban intensity of the neighbourhood.

The result is a compact and functional home in which spatial reorganisation, materiality and light create a balance between contemporaneity and memory.