Bathyard home, by Husos Architects, is an energetically rehabilitated apartment, organised around a new socio-bioclimatic domestic space: the ‘bathyard’. It was designed for a woman, her family and her plants.

The 130 sq.m. apartment is situated in a residential building dating to 1900.

The home becomes a testing ground for re-thinking the relationship between the home space and the narrow, interior patios

These interior patios or light wells, commonly present in residential buildings in dense Mediterranean cities such as Madrid are spaces that are currently undervalued, but ones that could instead gain a new and relevant climatic and social dimension

The original apartment was transformed by introducing a few changes in the partition walls while maintaining the original structure intact.

Before rehabilitation, the apartment was energy-inefficient and dark, almost completely facing north and west, with the exception of one window that opened into an interior patio.

The wooden-framed, movable partitions have different degrees of transparency: some have semi-reflective screens, which are strategically positioned with surprising effects, for instance reflecting the sunlight towards the master bedroom in the morning.

The project reoriented a large part of the house to the south, creating the bathyard. This negotiable space borrows its alterability from sliding transparent partitions and a foldable bench. Apart from an assortment of functions, it can also be the setting of a glorious solitary bath experience.

The bathyard generates a new ‘exterior’ inside the apartment, and lends passive thermal and light comfort to the entire home.

It is a place where different activities can overlap and be shared, such as trying on clothes, enjoying breakfast, or having a conversation while one is taking a bath.

Between this and a more private room with a toilet, there is a small greenhouse, the only space in the flat where underfloor heating wasn’t installed.

The greenhouse is equipped with a drip irrigation system, which accommodates different types of ferns, rubber plants, philodendrons and marantas, among others.

Its strategic location between two humid spaces contributes to a suitable environment for the vegetation as well as the environment for the rest of the apartment.

In order to prevent drying out the atmosphere of the garden, underfloor heating was not installed. Instead, the garden is heated by its contact with the other spaces in the apartment and by direct exposure to sunlight through the window.

The central position of this space within the flat facilitates cross-ventilation and the enjoyment of a new landscape facing south. The distribution and insulation of the facade walls, floor slabs and ceilings help maintain 18°C to 20°C in most winter days without the heating system.

The construction of an occulus connects the bathyard with the living and dining spaces visually and climatically, regulated by a golden curtain and screen.

You can see the reflected images of the bathtub among the plants at different angles from the living space through the oculus, placed using a pre-existing hole in the load-bearing wall that once was part of the cabinet.