Casa POP 2026: Madrid Apartment Renovation by gon architects
gon architects renovated a 78 sqm apartment in Vicálvaro, Madrid, featuring a continuous green bookcase and vibrant color-blocked rooms.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- gon architects renovated a 78 sqm apartment in Vicálvaro, Madrid
- The layout now features a U-shaped plan organized around a central storage core
- A custom opal green bookcase spans the entire apartment holding 1,500 books
- The interior is divided into five distinct color-coded functional zones
gon architects studio has completed the renovation of a 78-square-meter apartment located on the sixth floor of a residential complex built in the 2000s on former industrial land in Vicálvaro, east of Madrid, Spain. Previously occupied by the same owners for 20 years, the home featured a heavily compartmentalized layout dictated by historical housing regulations, which no longer suited the lifestyle of its current owners, Santiago and Ángel.
The couple—working as a hospital nurse and a high school language and literature teacher respectively—shares a deep passion for cinema, theater, and literature. They required a fluid, interconnected living space rather than narrow, divided corridors. The newly designed U-shaped layout rotates clockwise around a central storage core, completely transforming the tight and segmented floor plan into a spacious environment.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The redesign organizes the interior into five distinct zones corresponding to daily domestic actions: entering, cooking, eating, resting, and dressing. Each zone is painted entirely in a single color across walls, ceilings, and furniture to create an immersive atmosphere, drawing inspiration from 18th- and 19th-century European mansions where color was used to alter perceived room scales.
The centerpiece of the apartment is a custom-made bookcase lacquered in opal green that runs across the entire width of the living and dining area. Comprising 27 shelves, it accommodates nearly 1,500 books and small items, prominently featuring the works of Granadan writer Federico García Lorca. The bookcase features two perforated points with translucent sliding doors, offering flexibility to either open up long visual diagonals or close off rooms into private, softly illuminated volumes at night.
"The renovation transforms the narrow and compartmentalized apartment into a more spacious and connected home, while incorporating their request for a cinematic zenithal perspective."
gon architects
Color zoning is an effective architectural strategy for maximizing compact urban living spaces without erecting solid, light-blocking partitions. By painting walls, ceilings, and built-in furniture in uniform hues, architects can visually expand boundaries and create smooth spatial transitions. In Casa POP, this technique successfully turns a standard 78-square-meter floor plan into an experiential landscape that feels much larger and intimately tailored to the owners' cultural lifestyle.
The central marble-green walkthrough kitchen acts as a primary gathering and circulation hub leading into the living-dining space, which includes a compact workspace and a folding guest bed integrated into custom furniture. Other bespoke elements include a yellow ceramic bedroom headboard and Ángel's desk, keeping freestanding furniture minimal and allowing the apartment to remain visually uncluttered.
Source: designboom
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