Before & After: In Madrid, a Family of Architects Turn a “Cave” Into a Light-Filled Apartment
"We sacrificed some privacy for the light, but it’s worth it," says Rubén Picado about the Madrid apartment he renovated with his wife, María José de Blas.
The architect couple, who cofounded the firm Picado de Bas, live next door—so when the adjacent flat came up for sale in 2005 they didn’t hesitate. "Our kids were growing up and needed a space of their own, but we also wanted a place to share with the whole family and our friends," Rubén explains.
"We still refer to it as ‘la cueva,’" jokes their 26-year-old daughter, Candela Picado, as she looks around the airy, light-filled apartment she now shares with her elder brother, Mateo. "The name came about during the pandemic—we called it the cave, because of its dilapidated, dark aesthetic, and the lack of natural light due its small rooms and opaque walls."
Before: Living Room/Office
Before: The apartment’s living area was set up as an office before the renovation.
After: Living Room
"When not being used as my studio, the living room is transformed into a meeting space with modular furniture designed to adapt to any occasion," says Candela Picado. "The sofas can face each other or form an L-shape, depending on the vibe you want to create."
The apartment is located in Madrid’s Arturo Soria neighborhood, named after the famed architect and urban planner. Despite being less than 15 minutes by car from central Madrid, the apartment block where the Picado de Blas family lives is surrounded by greenery.
In late 2023, Rubén and María José set about renovating the 650-square-foot apartment (700 square feet including the patio) alongside their architect son and artist/architect daughter.
The upper sections of the walls are transparent to fill the apartment with daylight and preserve views from the patio all the way through to the bedrooms.
Maximizing space and light were their immediate priorities: "The first thing we did was restore the 150-square-foot patio, which had previously been glassed and walled in," explains María José. By opening it up, and adding a sliding glass door—which, she says, stays open for most of the year—they turned the dingy, cave-like living room into a breezy indoor/outdoor space.
The hallway that separates the living area from the bedrooms has a ceiling height of just under seven feet—compared with 8.2 feet in the rest of the apartment—and storage space makes up the difference. It’s just one of many smart storage solutions built into the walls, floors, and ceilings of the apartment.
Rubén Picado likes to spend his free time tending to the plants on the terrace.
Candela likes to spend time in the living room, which doubles as her art studio. "Its connection with the greenery outside has a profound impact on my creativity, which is reflected in my abstract artwork," she explains. The space is also used by the whole family for social events—and Rubén enjoys tending to the plants on the nearby terrace.
Before: Kitchen
Before: The narrow kitchen was just one of the cramped spaces in the old flat.
After: Mateo’s Bedroom
By moving the wall slightly and making it only four inches thick, the family turned the small kitchen and adjacent primary bedroom into two equally sized bedrooms.
By moving the kitchen to the open-plan living area and borrowing some space from the adjacent master bedroom, the family created a full-sized bedroom for Mateo.
The upper section of the wall is transparent, providing an unobstructed view from the patio on the other side of the apartment, through the bedroom window. The bed is hidden behind the opaque part of the wall to create some privacy.
After: Kitchen
As with all the utilities in the new apartment, the open-plan kitchen can be closed off to minimize clutter.
Before: Bedroom
Before: The primary bedroom before the renovation.
After: Candela’s bedroom
To maximize space in the 650-square-foot apartment, storage is built into the walls, the ceilings, and the floors.
The apartment now has two equally sized bedrooms for the two siblings, with storage built into the walls, ceilings, and floors. While some square footage in Candela’s room was shifted to Mateo’s, her bedroom now has a walk-in closet that borrowed some space from the old bathroom.
Before: Bathroom
The old-fashioned, windowless bathroom before the renovation.
After: Walk-in Closet and Bathroom
Part of the former bathroom was used to create a walk-in closet for Candela.
The transparent upper section of the bathroom connects to the living area and patio on one side and the walk-in closet on the other, allowing light to flood through the apartment.
The new bathroom is an amalgamation of the old space and a small section of the living room. In order to maximize natural light, the upper part of the bathroom walls are translucent. While the toilet is hidden behind the opaque section, the shower is translucent, but only from neck height up.
The reduced privacy is a necessary trade-off for daylighting—as Candela says, "nature invades the interior" of the apartment from every angle.
The new shower is open to the living room—but only from the neck up.
"The light traverses it thanks to the windows in the interior walls," she explains, adding that you can see the outside world from every point in the apartment—"even from the bathroom!" she exclaims.
Floor Plan of La Cueva by Picado de Blas
More Before & After stories:
They Gave a Bland ’70s Cabin a Psychedelic Glow-Up for $120K
From Pegboards to Terrazzo, This Swervy Oakland Bungalow Has It All
In Buenos Aires, a Crumbling Home Gets a Major Refresh With a Rooftop Pool
Project Credits:
Architect of Record: Picado de Blas / @picadodeblas
Builder/General Contractor: Zimenta Obras y Proyectos
Landscape, Lighting, Cabinetry, and Interior Design: Picado de Blas
Textile Interior Design: Rabadan
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