San Lucas by ARQUID Architecture
San Lucas anchors a 300 m² apartment renovation in Madrid, Spain, where ARQUID Architecture revisits a historic structure facing Plaza de las Salesas. The project reworks a once-compartmentalized home into an open, light-filled residence that respects its original brick, timber, and generous balconies while aligning closely with the owners’ contemporary routines. Rooms now flow around a continuous masonry spine, and everyday life takes place against a carefully tuned play of materials and light.
Morning light drops through twelve balconies, catching on brick, timber, and cool steel before settling across the long apartment floor. Movement reads as one continuous line, running parallel to a restored wall that quietly holds the home together.
This is a generous apartment in Madrid’s Justicia neighborhood, reworked by ARQUID Architecture as an open residence rather than a series of sealed rooms. The project keeps the building’s historic bones in view while using a precise material palette to organize daily life. Structural brick, exposed timber, stainless steel, and warm finishes form a clear hierarchy that guides how each room feels and functions.
Compartmentalized corridors give way to an open plan where rooms borrow light from one another and circulation unfolds without interruption. A single brick wall, fully restored and revealed from end to end, takes on the role of quiet organizer, setting a tactile backdrop for movement and pause.
Brick Wall As Spine
The original brick wall runs the length of the apartment, acting as a structural memory and a new ordering element at once. Its textured surface catches raking daylight from the balconies, so the wall reads differently from morning to evening. Rooms align along this masonry spine, with social areas and more private zones unfolding as a measured sequence rather than a rigid grid. Against its warm, irregular surface, smoother contemporary finishes gain clarity and depth.
Exposed timber beams and columns reinforce this sense of continuity. Their grain and occasional imperfections report on the building’s age, grounding the renovated interior in its historic shell. Together, brick and timber give the home a tangible thickness that balances the openness of the new plan.
Stainless Steel In The Everyday
Stainless steel steps in as a cool counterpoint, threaded carefully through both architecture and bespoke furniture. In the kitchen and wine area, steel wraps the central island and storage volumes, lending precision to the areas where daily routines concentrate. Reflections stay soft rather than glossy, picking up tones from brick and timber instead of competing with them.
A hand-crafted 360-degree rotating shelving unit, also in stainless steel, acts as a pivot between daytime rooms. With a simple turn, it modulates views and thresholds, allowing the perception of each side to shift without adding solid walls. This single piece speaks to the project’s broader material strategy: robust elements do double duty, serving structure, storage, and spatial definition at once.
Light, Warmth And Calm
An open arrangement and the apartment’s twelve balconies bring daylight deep into the plan. Surfaces in warm tones—paired with brick, timber, and measured steel—temper this brightness into a calm, even glow. As the sun moves, each room reads like a small scene: reflective metal catches glints, brick falls into shadow, and timber beams draw a quiet grid across the ceiling.
Comfort extends beyond visual calm. An aerothermal system works in the background to provide heating, cooling, and hot water by drawing energy from outdoor air, reducing reliance on more intensive sources. Two interior courtyards strengthen cross-ventilation and support natural temperature regulation with minimal mechanical intervention.
Courtyards And Indoor Garden
The courtyards serve as lungs for the apartment. Air circulates through these internal voids, carrying subtle shifts in temperature and scent into adjacent rooms. One courtyard becomes an indoor garden planted with native vegetation, extending the material story into living matter. Brick, timber, steel, and leaves share the same frame, tying the interior back to the rhythms of the city outside.
By the time evening light fades from Plaza de las Salesas, the apartment reads as a layered mesh of old structure and new precision. Brick, beams, steel, and foliage each retain their character yet work together as a calm whole. The home stays attuned to its historic building and urban setting, while its material clarity keeps daily life clear, measured, and quietly generous.
Photography by Belen Imaz
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