Casa Antillón, an Architecture and Design studio based in Madrid, presents its first domestic renovation: A house without doors.
Project Name: A doorless house
Studio Name: Casa Antillón
Management: Irene Álvarez
Photography: Imagen Subliminal
Originally, this area was an attic cluttered with toys, furniture, and dust. The open space, spanning roughly 70 square meters, saw little use. Consequently, our clients tasked us with converting this attic into a home for their children and guests. The plan was to create a small dwelling that included a living room, bedroom, fireplace, ample storage, and a bathroom.
We quickly realized that this new home needed to deviate from the traditional hierarchies found in the rest of the building. The design had to avoid the conventional layout of isolated rooms separated by walls and doors, where each space is assigned a specific function with no room for interaction.
Our approach involved breaking down the house’s walls—cutting, deforming, and destroying them. We aimed to revive the ancient concept of a central hearth, around which different areas are organized. These areas, unnamed to allow for flexibility in their use over time, needed to maintain a degree of privacy. To achieve this, we designed a fragmented curved wall that separates public and private spaces.
The placement of this wall is crucial, as it positions the skylights on one side, allowing abundant light to flood in and be contained on that side. By creating openings, we simulated the experience of looking outside in an otherwise windowless interior. Additionally, passages on either side of the wall provide access to the smaller rooms and enable easy movement around it.
We adopted a similar strategy for the bathroom, dividing it into separate spaces for the shower, toilet, and sink. This modular approach occupies less floor space and creates a different interaction within the apartment. We envisioned a person waking up, walking barefoot across the carpet, and stepping directly into the shower without needing to open or close doors.
Between the wall and the bathroom—the two pivotal elements of the project—a corridor emerges, adding a sense of tension to the space. This secret passage connects the rooms and offers access to the bathroom, fostering relationships uncommon in typical homes. It encourages exploration, allowing residents to choose their own paths through the space each day.
