An indoor courtyard with orange grass and shiny, silver curtains are some of the fun features that Lucas y Hernández-Gil has added to the basement of this Madrid apartment.
Located at the heart of Madrid in the Malasana neighbourhood, Casa A12 has been overhauled by Lucas y Hernández-Gil to boast "two very different atmospheres".

While the ground floor of the duplex apartment is meant to be conventionally domestic, the lower level has been turned into a "world of work and leisure" where its owners ? a young couple with a pet dog ? can escape.
"Different atmospheres have been linked in a play on perceptive contrasts where each room is a space simultaneously differentiated and flexible, where geometry, colour and light configure an artificial interior landscape," explained the practice. The brief also required more natural light to be brought into the apartment, which was being restricted because of the building's deep floor-plan.

A third of the ground floor has thus been dedicated to an open-plan vestibule that's sparsely furnished, allowing an abundance of light to flow from two large windows that overlook the street.
The only interruption to the space is a floor-to-ceiling cylindrical pod with a ridged blue surface, inside of which lies a small bathroom decked out in coral-orange tiles.

Behind this room lies the kitchen that's been kept bright with white cabinetry and light-timber stool seats that have been arranged around a breakfast isl...