Throughout history, the configuration of the home has experienced changes that aim to respond to the evolution of the productive and social habits of its inhabitants. Such evolution, far from being logical and sequential, has been punctuated by flashes of great stress between deep nostalgia and innovative revisionist trends. Nowadays, once the futuristic trends of hyper-technological aesthetic have been left behind and the turn of the century´s austere minimalist muteness has been outgrown, in order to achieve a truly contemporary feel, designers are bound reconcile the vernacular with the traditional. Aesthetically bridging the original finishes of the building with those features the more modern and urban lifestyles demand.
In the home of Santa Caterina this contemporary tension is unequivocally reflected. The result: the virtual blurring of boundaries between the public and private realms of the home. Such is the case of that opaque border that used to hide the service areas from the more socially oriented. Thus, this re-interpretation of the typical “Eixample” apartament revolves around a large living kitchen, one that built over a “carpet” made of traditional cement floor tiles, is offered as an area born with a deep entertainment call that goes well beyond its simple practicality as a service space. Dividing the apartment lay out longitudinally, the kitchen takes up a third of the available area of the house and it is thanks to its balconies, its wall mounted shelf-beches, its huge table made of solid vintage wood; its contemporary design seats and pendant lights; its wrought iron and marble apothecary dresser, and its modern appliances hidden behind a facade of recovery wood, that visitors can say the kitchen stands as the stylistic summary of the whole home: One that is deeply extroverted and hedonistic: the star and the heart of a home that can be read as a live in representation of a whole new lifestyle.
Around the large kitchen and dining room area, arranged clockwise and almost without any transition spaces in between, you can find a courtesy toilet, a double bedroom with balcony and on suite bathroom, a living room that can accommodate guests in a “wall foldaway bed”, the master´s bedroom with its respective bathroom, and the access to the patio with an ivy covered wall that manage to link the private realm of the flat with the other green wall erected to background and highlight the living kitchen.
Avoiding the transition spaces, hallways, the "halls" and aisles separated by partitions, you get a general sense of openness promotes uniform propagation of natural light and ventilation, while to some extent resignation strict privacy zones "intimate" I used to be in opacity, shadows, and specialized spaces constrained dimensions. That is why the rooms of this house, but can be closed after towering double doors adorned with classic moldings and metal handles, can only open up to the bathrooms by transparencies and reflections given by two major domestic gardens bordered by large windows made extent lacquered woodwork. Consequently, the bathrooms are here treated as relaxation areas that should enjoy the breadth and the preferred lighting that usually stays only enjoy more social. However, discretion is not sacrificed at all: The curtain generated by the bamboo plant inhabiting successive internal gardens achieves ensure transparency of glass, offering the user the necessary privacy without sacrificing light or amplitude. Marble recovery; white glass mosaic with half round rounded corners, fittings and stainless steel fittings, large transparent glass partitions and new walls a vibrant green plant eventually hygienic instance configure three traditional offering little in return great comfort and originality.
In the lounge, white leather sofa and pure lines in a plane is cut dyed a deep turquoise by wallpaper linking, on the right flank, the visual texture mosaic Escher hydraulic striped with restored wooden beams in the Catalan vault ceiling. From here are illuminated by directional light, furnishings and decor that the owners have been finding gradually over travel around the world and walks in the neighborhood of Borne, progressively customizing the space and making it increasingly unique and welcoming. In this room without TV you can watch movies projected onto a white wall as a screen is devoid of decoration, while central opening doors side cabinet, the room becomes a third room for guests to deploy double folding lka that is hidden inside your head together, bedside tables and reading recessed lighting. On the sides, and after porvençal style doors painted white, hides the control panel of audiovisual equipment, while offering space for storage of records, films, and lingerie
