This is the latest instalment of The Inside Story, Wallpaper’s series spotlighting intriguing, innovative and industry-leading interior design.
Good things come in small packages – and this 80-square-metre apartment in Madrid's Malasaña district, reimagined by London- and Mallorca-based studio Archive for Space, proves it. The home feels historical, contemporary and ‘grandmotherly’ all at once. On paper, those elements shouldn't coexist; in practice, they do.
For co-founders Arabella Maza and Stephen Maginn, the project was guided by a wish to preserve the apartment's early twentieth-century bones while layering in contemporary interventions. Malasaña itself offered a reference point – a neighbourhood of ornate façades, independent vintage stores, late-night bars and bohemian spirit. Restored plaster cornices, decorative ceiling medallions and original timber shutters all pay tribute to that heritage.
During the renovation, the designers uncovered treasure beneath the old carpet: the apartment's original terracotta flooring. Restored and patched, the tiles shift from checkerboard to diamond motifs, becoming both a practical foundation and conceptual anchor for the project.
Recreate the mood
Against this earthy backdrop, polished stainless steel introduces an industrial precision. Maza has described the aesthetic as ‘a grandmother in latex’ – rather vivid shorthand for a space willing to challenge convention without losing its warmth.
Its position within a shared building ruled out major alterations to its envelope. Instead, the studio leaned on spatial efficiency and material continuity to turn a long, narrow footprint into a home with two bedrooms, two en-suite bathrooms and a generous central kitchen. Living spaces occupy the street-facing rooms, while the bedrooms and bathrooms wrap around an internal patio.
At the heart of the plan sits the kitchen – our favourite space. Cool steel, used for the countertops and integrated appliances, pairs irresistibly with softly gathered linen skirting below, while rough plaster walls and the restored floors add tactility. The circular extractor hood, custom-designed by the studio, deserves a mention too – it reads more like a sculptural object than an appliance.
That dialogue between softness and structure continues in the living room, where a restored ceiling medallion and a loose-covered sofa sit alongside a vintage floral armchair, stainless-steel coffee table and the charming Pea Head Lamp by Six Dots Design. In the primary bedroom, a cross-stitched floral textile stands in for a headboard, adding another handmade touch.
The bedroom also embraces one of our favourite design moves: floor-to-ceiling drapery. Here, the curtains separate the room from its en-suite – an unconventional solution born of spatial constraints. The bathrooms depart from the creamy palette found elsewhere, wrapped in glossy black tiles with chrome fittings and veined Calacatta marble.
It would have been easy to overplay the contrasts – forcing the floral armchair against shiny metal, or leaning too nostalgic with the buttery yellow walls. Instead, this is an apartment that knows exactly when to make a statement and when to step back – making it, in our estimation, very close to perfect.
