“Home Back Home” Showcases Simple but Smart Space Solutions

The recent recession has had a major impact on Spain’s population and the employment sector. The economic fallout left 54 percent of 25-40 year olds without a job. As a result of this many are moving back to their family home, to the rooms that they grew up in.

This group of architects, who showcased their work at the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2016, have set about re-creating the bedrooms of their youth to make them a appropriate space for adulthood.

Each of the designs focuses on producing a functional space capable of wearing different hats, be it a workspace, hangout for friends or simply a bedroom. Given the limited size of most of the rooms, they’ve focused on producing affordable solutions that are usually modular in form and allow you to chop and change the layout on a whim.

The project has been dubbed Home Back Home and was carried out by the firm formerly known as PKMN Architects (it’s since downsized and been renamed to Enorme Studio). From the architects: “Home Back Home is a platform for analysis, monitoring and treatment, through prototyping, of housing situations generated by de-emancipation and the coming back home journey.”

One of the most recent redesigns is that of PhD graduate Ana Mombiedro. Ana returned home after travelling abroad to find a reshuffling of rooms left her without a bedroom. Instead she had to make do with the living room. To create space that could serve as both bedroom and living room, a few additions were needed.

Those additions came in the form of a sitting area, a bed and a desk. Seating that doubles as storage was hacking Ikea’s off-the-shelf Bekvam stool. A pair of wood-framed panels can be raised to reveal the bed underneath, while a small desk follows the windows to the front. From Mombiedro: “The challenge was not to compromise the social and celebratory nature of the main communal area in the house.”

Del Montón Caño, another designer whose work formed part of the project, decided to make use of vertical space. Monton relegated storage and furnishings to one wall freeing up the rest of her room. By making use of hooks, she was able to create a variety of shelving and storage compartments, as well as a fold-down desk.

The project highlights simple but smart solutions. The ideas are feasible not only for those that find themselves back in the family nest, but those that live in small and confined spaces. From the architects: “Home Back Home is a platform for analysis, monitoring and treatment, through prototyping, of housing situations generated by de-emancipation and the coming back home journey.”

For more multi-functional designs check out these standalone living units that help to bring an old building back to life. Or, the Cubitat, a modular living unit from Toronto. See all multi-functional posts.

Via Dezeen
Photos: Javier de Paz García