Don’t push the walls.
Remove the nonsense.
« The project does not begin with construction, but with reading the space. »
The diagnosis - A typical family apartment.
A “correct” plan, but without life.
Family apartment — Málaga city center - 95 m²
Project José & María
Plan showing the apartment in its original state, with a conventional layout and a central corridor connecting all rooms.
Plan highlighting the central corridor, revealing the area used only for circulation without real function.
Plan revealing how the surface is divided between circulation, daily life, and private space.
Plan showing the apartment in its original state, with a conventional layout and a central corridor connecting all rooms.
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A central corridor everywhere, with no real function.
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Living room and kitchen isolated, limiting daily life and natural light.
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One shared bathroom for the whole family.
The intervention
Three essential gestures.
« No added surface — No structural walls modified »
Existing layout and reorganization proposal
Apartment plan in its original state, with an inherited organization and circulation that consumes usable floor area.
Apartment plan after reorganization: the layout is simplified, circulation becomes legible, and living spaces gain continuity.
Final plan with zoning: day, night, and service areas are clearly identified, revealing a more coherent organization.
Apartment plan in its original state, with an inherited organization and circulation that consumes usable floor area.
1. Dissolving the corridor
The entrance stops being a passage and becomes an active space that organizes the apartment and opens a clear perspective toward the living areas.
11 m² are integrated into living spaces and bedrooms.
2. Structuring the living area
Living room, dining area and kitchen connect seamlessly.
Uses are articulated within a continuous, fluid space.
3. Redefining privacy
Previously residual surfaces are reassigned to the bedrooms.
Every recovered square meter becomes lived-in comfort.
The master suite integrates a calm and independent space, designed to support extended daily use without encroaching on family life.
What really changes
The same apartment, another reading.
No square meters added.
11 m² reassigned — from circulation to use.
Three bathrooms instead of one.
Same address, a whole new way of living
Alternative proposal — a different spatial hierarchy
Study plan exploring an alternative layout for the primary suite, integrating an independent workspace within the existing footprint.
The purple shading shows the area reclaimed by downsizing the bathroom. This volume allows for the creation of a dedicated home office and reading area, separated from family life and the noise of the living areas.
Study plan exploring an alternative layout for the primary suite, integrating an independent workspace within the existing footprint.
A second option was explored for the master suite.
By reducing the size of the bathroom (without a bathtub), the recovered space made it possible to create a dedicated home office as well as a quiet reading area, clearly separated from the activity of the living space.
This option offered a clearer hierarchy between resting areas, work space, and family life.
The client ultimately chose the first solution, favoring a larger bathroom with a bathtub, better suited to everyday use.
Our role is to propose, structure, and prioritize.
The final decision always belongs to the client.
Radical variant — rethinking the hierarchy of the master suite
This variant pushes the concept further by deliberately rebalancing the master suite around work and rest.
The orange shading reveals the space freed up by downsizing the bathroom to the essentials. This volume allows for the integration of a partially separated work-library area, designed to coexist with rest and privacy.
The bathroom is intentionally reduced to its essentials, freeing up a substantial volume for a dedicated work–library space, clearly defined and partially separated from the bedroom.
The partition allows for a calm coexistence between work, rest and privacy, without relying on the living areas.
Another way of inhabiting the same space, shaped by different daily uses.
What matters
The same space can generate several coherent responses.
The project is not about imposing a solution, but about revealing possibilities, measuring their consequences, and guiding an informed choice.
Understand first.
Rethink next.
Renovate after.
Understanding space is the key to a lasting, intelligent, regret-free project.
This project applies the same approach of reading and rethinking the plan explained in our plan analysis methodology.