John MacPeek has fond memories of living out of a suitcase when he first moved to Europe over 2 decades ago. "There's a real advantage to having everything you own that you can carry on your back at one point". So when he was looking to buy an apartment in Barcelona, he was ready to live in something compact where everything he owned was accounted for.
When he first saw his new home, its size didn't bother him (about 25 square meters or 270 square feet) as much as its condition. It was an old storage room for the building's water tanks and it looked more like a storage room than anything habitable.
MacPeek enlisted the help of architect Lola Domenech who insisted she'd take on the project if she could open up the apartment to the sea. He bought the "over-sized closet" and Domenech began plans to take down the main wall and replace it with a 6 meter long (20 foot long) folding glass door that allows in light and air to provide passive solar heating and cooling (the shutters can close it off completely in summer to prevent overheating).
She also implemented space-saving ideas like a walk-through shower, a bedroom that becomes a lounge and a refrigerator in a drawer.
Lola Domènech architect www.loladomenech.com/en/index.php
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