Zooco

The project has been finished in 2018, it is situated in a centric neighborhood of Madrid. The program consists of a mixed use of shop space and exhibition of natural cosmetics and wellness and a massage with an added a hammam room.

Due to the nature of the program, our imaginary is structured by natural materials and warm and relaxed atmospheres. Therefore, we will use bamboo for floors, and bamboo poles as a second skin in the natural and plastered walls.

Because of the complexity of the program and the small area of the local, the global concept consists in generating through an organic geometry, the spatial organization that enables to serve every need in the project. Therefore, we use a vertical and lineal element such as the bamboo pole, and we repeat it all along the geometry focusing on the transition areas.

At the entrance, the overhead marquee is surrounded by several and horizontal bamboo sticks, making us glimpse how the interior of the store will be from the street perspective. Once you enter, we find the exposition area and shop area. It is covered in its perimeter, by the skin of bamboo poles. These poles conform themselves to the morphology of the furniture that the program demands. They are cut by varnished metallic iron shelves when it is necessary. The shelves respond to its use by sticking to the wall for storage and exhibition; widening in order to include a washing area with circular terracotta basin; or taking off from the wall to generate the counter of the store. The walls remain plastered, becoming more marked in the areas of the counter, sink and high areas, where the LEDs are ubicated, bathing in light, both the walls and the bamboo sticks. Moreover, in the last shelve, we put natural plants with terracotta pots.

Through a sliding door from floor to ceiling, the store becomes independent from the rest of the project’s program, thus, the project generates the duality that the client was looking for in his store. Once crossed this door, we find the rest area. Here a metal shelve continues with the morphology of the store and generates, in this case, an L-shaped seat covered in upholstery in raw tones. In this area, we find the entrances to the massage rooms and the bathroom.

The massage area is designed in a versatile way so that you can do an individual massage, a massage in pairs, or two individual ones by means of a temporary dividing element in the middle. The materiality of this room is made by dark bamboo flooring and a baseboard of the same material up to a height of 80cm. The light, all regulated to the client’s taste, bathes walls and base using LEDs and is configured by means of rotating surface projectors.

Finally, we have the hammam room: Two seats at different heights are arranged as a “U” form. In order to generate different configurations with client and massager. The hammam evokes the idea of ​​a cave due to its roof as a flat vault and owing to the fact that the ceiling, walls, seats, and floor are covered of a small ceramic configuration in gray and earth tones. This ceramic coating is divided into three different bands, the floor and seat, with a circular shape and a dark tone, the middle transition zone with hexagonal shapes and a neutral tone and finally, the roof band with ceramic square and a more subtle tone shape. The relaxed atmosphere is generated due to the before mentioned and the capacity that the project has in order to choose the intensity and the color of the lighting that bathes the room.

Therefore, we use bamboo for floors, natural color in the shop and resting area and a darker one for massage rooms. Moreover, in the massages room, a baseboard of the same material is up to a height of 80cm continuing the floor. We also use real and natural bamboo poles in the shop and resting area, with the same color than the floor. Furthermore, the natural plants enhance the project in its natural characteristics. Regarding the colors, we use neutral and earth tones. From the terracotta basin and flowerpots to the plastered walls and the neutral tones of the textiles that covered the seats of the resting area. In the hammam room, we have a combination of earth tones in the ceramics that enhances the atmosphere. These atmospheres are changeable due to the manipulation of the illumination.

The main challenge in this project was to provide a correct solution to every need and function that the program of the project has. Moreover, its small space increase the difficulty of this challenge. Therefore, we overcome this with the repetition of elements and its configuration. We distributed the space organically serving every need of the project. We used shelves in order to provide exhibition space, the counter, the washing space, and the seats. Moreover, the bamboo poles are used as a second skin of the walls. Therefore, altogether create a versatile project that functions in many ways solving every need.