Old mill-warehouse transformed into cozy home

The building is located in a small historic village of Priorat, a region of Tarragona, Spain dedicated to wine production. The building was an old mill-warehouse that was used to store wheat and was abandoned. The owner runs the prestigious winery that produces the Clos Erasmus, one of the finest red wines of Priorat, and obtained the highest score in the famous list of American expert Robert Parker. The request he made to Studio MINIM was to transform the mill into a comfortable home that also had an area for the winery.

Inside the home is a single open space comprised of over 1,506 square feet (140 square meters), and a gable roof over six feet tall. Architectural elements throughout were very dilapidated and, in some cases, in ruins. The first goal of MINIM was to restore, if possible, all the elements of architecture and interior design a project based on the original materials of construction, typical of rural households in the area. The rehabilitation respected the structure of the original box, recovering the original openings of the facade, pillars, stone walls and vaults of the basement, which was turned into a wine cellar. A bold “sculpture-staircase” was added in order to organize the building internally.

Photos: Albert Font Stylist: Mar Requena

Publishing house transformed into charming home

This successful reform was to adapt a modernist apartment in Barcelona, Spain to the lifestyle of the 21st century by Studio MINIM. What seemed to be an advantage, the floor was in a typical building in downtown Barcelona with modernist structural elements, which became the main difficulty. The challenge was to adapt to the needs of a family without altering the buildings architectural peculiarities, which was originally the headquarters of the editorial Icaria.

“We should do a respectful intervention until such point that, at the end of the reform, it seems that we had not done anything, except paint white and put in contemporary furniture”, states the designer. Although difficult, the designers achieved its purpose. Despite works, the floor maintains intact the high ceilings, with fine moldings and original plaster rosettes of the house. On the floor, tiles are repeated in a delicate floral composition throughout the entire house. Woodworking exhibits shutters, latches and panels in perfect condition. Interior doors transform natural light in a multicolored arc iris thanks to their tinted leaded crystals.

The house was also given modern updates, achieved with the distribution of the spaces. The entrance to the home was created in the middle, with a hallway that acts as an axis and divides the house into two areas, public and private spaces. A spacious living room is in the center of the home from which you can access the kitchen through a double sliding door. The private spaces are comprised of the children’s bedrooms and a spacious master bedroom with bathroom, dressing room and private library.

Magnificent restoration in Barcelona

This spectacular architectural restoration is located in a building in the old quarter of Barcelona, Spain. The house was originally a fabric store for 20 years but was in poor condition and needed to be restored. The owners of this home, a young couple with a small child, acquired this unique house and commissioned the Studio MINIM interior design to rehabilitate the home. They had always looked for unique spaces with distinguishing architectural elements, but they were fascinated with the possibilities offered of this house which included a cloister and a large terrace patio, gazebo and the work of Antoni Gaudi himself. From the outset, the owners, aware of the historical value of housing rehabilitation and wished for the interior design firm to restore and maintain the most of every one of the original elements.

The home consists of 180 square meters with access to an interior courtyard of about 150 square meters and a space annex that was part of an ancient 500 year old convent, whose back facade is oriented to the same patio. The convent space is over 100 square meters and serves as an office area for the owner. The two properties were unified into one main dwelling. The clients wished for everything no be neutral, with a clean, minimalist aesthetic, inspired by the Nordic style mixed with contemporary furnishings. The lounge, dining room and kitchen are at the heart of the home with open access to the courtyard. The roofs could not be kept, not only because they were in poor condition and because they did not coincide with the distribution, but because they were really very simple and not providing any value. The different original thatched roofs were removed, and left a homogeneous space with the structure of beams and ceiling blocks in view.

Visit the website of interior design firm Studio MINIM here.

Modern loft living in Barcelona

What was once a stable, a bomb shelter and then a print shop is now a modern loft located in Barcelona, Spain. The large rectangular loft is split into two levels for a total footage of 8,600 square feet. It was completely transformed and renovated by developers and designers of urban lofts Benito Escat and Alberto Rovira with the help of interior design studio Studio MINIM. The original brick walls are now exposed, and the high concrete ceilings make this loft truly magnificent! Via