Project name: Casa NEES
Interior design: Iglesias Hamelin Arquitectos
Location: Madrid, Spain
Photo: Iñaki Iglesias
Area: 65 m2
Year: 2025
Project description from design firms Iglesias Hamelin Arquitectos
The dwelling is located in a quiet and historically dense enclave in the center of Madrid. Surrounded by palaces, churches, and former residences, the street preserves a restrained atmosphere, almost detached from the contemporary rhythm of the city. This slow character became the starting point of the project.
The intervention proposes understanding the dwelling as a refuge, a place of retreat and calm, close to the idea of the monastic. A place where architecture is reduced to the essential and where living is grounded in serenity and silence.
The project is built through an operation of subtraction. Secondary elements are removed to allow the original wooden structure to emerge, which then organizes the space and establishes its rhythm. The dwelling is conceived as a continuous, clear environment without hierarchies, where natural light, coming from the main façade, extends inward without obstacles.
The material palette is restrained and deliberately neutral. Light tones, clean surfaces, and the absence of stridency reinforce the intention of creating a serene, timeless, and quiet atmosphere. The result is an introspective space, where architecture does not seek prominence but rather accompanies a slower way of living, in dialogue with the memory of the place.
