A photographer’s bright house, once an industrial warehouse

Eulalia is the renovation of a former warehouse in Madrid, part of the “Elements for Industrial Recovery” series of projects curated by the local architecture firm Burr Studio. The strategic intention is to redevelop and enhance the city’s industrial structures – we had already talked about one of the studio’s projects here. In the capital, like in many other big cities, industrial architectures have in fact gradually disappeared, and the price of a plot has raised up to four times its original value.  A former warehouse full of different types of objects, Burr Studio’s design protects the building from demolition by proposing a renovation that suits its past. Used as a home and studio for photographer Juan Baraja, the environment – a light-filled open space – features work tools, the bench of an abandoned church, disused furniture that has been restored, the kitchen of a recently closed restaurant, numerous plants and, of course, a vast series of photographs. 

The design tends to preserve the existing since walls, floor and ceiling, equipped with metal beams and panels, are the original ones and maintain the neutral tones typical of the industrial structure. Accents of colour are provided by the yellow handrail of the staircase, which leads to a hidden and intimate area separated from the main space.  In the room, the various functions – living, dining and study – merge to become a unicum in which the objects tell the story and establish relationships.