Casa M

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 2023 · Authors: Xstudio

In the Arenales neighbourhood, characterised by the presence of old terraced houses, we find this example of heritage recovery combined with avant-garde architecture.

In 2023, this intervention was carried out on an old building in an advanced state of deterioration, which was restored and extended to accommodate a new mixed-use space for living and working. 

The initiative was designed by Xstudio, a team formed by architects Leticia Romero Hernández, Ancor Suárez Suárez and Marta Hernández Lladó, together with interior designer Paula Díaz Brito.

The exterior result is visible on the upper part of the old building, now intended for housing, where the extension is formalised by a pavilion with exposed metal structure, supported on the original load-bearing walls, with a large central portico that is reconstructed by reinforcing the pre-existing pillars. The exposed concrete shell imposes itself, giving the work its uniqueness.

Inside, where the ground floor once housed an old bar, it now becomes a ceramics workshop. The added elements here are lightweight; notable is the staircase to the upper floor, which develops smoothly, stabilised by corrugated steel tension rods hanging from the ceiling. This element functions as a valuable transitional piece between the street and the more private rooms.

Casa M is a clear example of the transformation of this area which, after decades of degradation and institutional abandonment, is now in a process of recovery, where the new combines with the old.

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