Spanish structure follow XStudio has launched a ceramic workshop and house into the worn shell of an deserted bar on the island of Gran Canaria.
The undertaking, referred to as Casa M, occupies an outdated nook constructing within the Arenales neighborhood of the Canary Island capital Las Palmas, which has been deserted for many years.
Attracted by its ruined look, XStudio saved its weathered facade, however changed a ground-floor bar with a ceramics workshop and added a concrete quantity on prime containing an house for the workshop proprietor.
“The Arenales neighborhood may be very central, however regardless of this, it has suffered a long time of decay,” XStudio associate Ancor Suárez informed Dezeen.
“It's a humble neighborhood with principally outdated homes which can be poorly preserved and are a testomony to raised instances,” he mentioned. “Nonetheless, that 'decay' offers it a particular appeal in our opinion. We imagine that responding with humble and sincere structure was one of the best ways to narrate to the setting.”
Getting into by way of the unique doorways within the pale yellow painted facade of the outdated constructing, the workshop occupies a single open area that has been left largely untouched and painted white.
A separate entrance leads into the house, the place a steel staircase and staircase reveal a mint-green metal body framing the first-floor rooms, bolstered by current partitions and columns.
“The primary idea was to ascertain a dialogue between the brand new structure and the prevailing constructing,” defined Suárez.
“This dialogue was based mostly on distinction. Assuming the imposition of municipal rules, a brand new physique was added to the prevailing one to finish the obvious quantity of the constructing,” continued Suárez.
“It does so by respecting the composition of the facade of the unique constructing, proposing an sincere structure that assumes its operate within the context with out prejudice.”
Within the house, a wood-framed window space surrounds a small courtyard subsequent to the residing space and stairwell to the west, whereas the extra non-public bedrooms are positioned to the east of the plan.
These new areas are outlined by uncovered supplies, together with thermo-clay blocks, uncovered concrete and metal framing, which reference the uncooked texture of the prevailing construction.
“The entire undertaking was approached with honesty, respecting the time stamp and exhibiting the brand new naked supplies,” mentioned Suárez.
Different current examples of adaptive reuse on Dezeen embody Studio Gang's transformation of a former tobacco warehouse in Lexington into the College of Kentucky Faculty of Design, and Fala Atelier's conversion of a store in Porto into an house.
Photograph by David Rodríguez.