Sleeping spaces are suspended from the ceiling, and accessed by wooden steps and a walkway, at this 18th-century home renovated by Ecuadorian firm Al Borde Arquitectos.
The House of the Flying Beds is located in La Esperanza, Ecuador, within a deteriorated historic property that Al Borde Arquitectos overhauled for a family.

"At first sight the house gave the impression of not being useful at all," Borde said. "It had only one-floor plan, the brick floor was broken, the 80 square meters were dark and cold, and the wood roof structure was rotten."

To rehabilitate the home, structural walls were reinforced, rammed-earth surfaces were treated, and doors and windows were updated. Walls were painted white with polished concrete on the ground floor to update the interiors. Retaining the open-plan layout of the main ground floor space and taking advantage of the double-height ceiling, the architects suspended the home's three beds from the ceiling.

These are each accessed by climbing a wooden staircase with angled treads, which leads to a deck-like platform without any handrails.
Three separate stairs then rise into the individual sleeping nooks, which are also built from wood, and incorporate storage areas for clothes and shoes.

To enable this configuration, the ceiling had to be redesigned with an upper bond beam and eucalyptus trusses installed every 1.55 metres. The bedrooms sit snugly between the trusses, which are visible from the space below.

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