A Noise Complaint and a Bottle of Champagne Sparked This Small Madrid Apartment’s Transformation

Call it kismet: When the founder of Gon Architects asked his neighbor to turn the music down, neither guessed it would lead to a new project.

There would be no renovation had there not been a noise complaint. After a day spent running his studio, Gon Architects, Gonzalo Pardo returned to his apartment in Madrid ready for bed, where he would have remained if a steady stream of music from his neighbor’s apartment hadn’t kept him up. Pardo knocked on the door of his neighbor, Philippe Muñoz Cuellar, asking if he could turn it down. The next morning, Philippe left a bottle of champagne with an apology note on Pardo’s doorstep. The pair shared it together that night and a fruitful friendship was born.

Located in the center of Madrid near Plaza España, Gon Architects transformed this dark, cluttered apartment into a sunny, carefully colorful home. The reimagined space is 860 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. — Gon Architects transformed a cramped Madrid apartment near Plaza España into an open, boldly colored home. A new stair with open treads, storage, and shelving is the primary feature of the two-level flat.

Photo by Imagen Subliminal

Philippe’s career as a stockbroker has taken him across Europe, but for the past 20 years he’s called Madrid home—the longest he’s lived anywhere. Philippe wasn’t in love with his two-level apartment, and honestly, neither was Pardo. While not normally a music-playing night owl, Philippe is social, curious, and loves the arts. However none of this was reflected in his current space: a dark and cramped flat with drab materials and an odd, segmented layout. Soon enough, Philippe and Pardo were working out plans for a renovation with Pardo’s firm, Gon Architects.