Sunset Openhouse has been a ten-year long project carried out by ESPECIE, in an experimental test tube format: as a built project and as a cultural project; two aspects that are part of what we understand by architecture. It involved the rehabilitation of an abandoned 180 m2 office in a 1920s building in the historic center of Murcia to convert it into a home and also a curatorial proposal to open the house to the public through specific events.

The renovation project focused on reorganizing the space, making some openings in the spaces attached to the façade, creating a single day area focused on the four original balconies. Thus the living room, dining room and kitchen were organized as an -enfilade-, placing the kitchen in the background, designed by us and self-built, as a kitchen-showcooking, which would allow gastronomic events to be generated around it.

The central element of the house is a glazed patio, in which the original carpentry and moldings have been maintained, which originally allowed you to explore the house with a 360º circulation -promenade-. This corridor is also an art gallery, where artists from the nearby territory exhibited their pieces. The floor space is completed by two bedrooms, a dressing room, a bathroom, a study and a work workshop.

The domestic space was transformed into a public space by curating events from ESPECIE so that unknown people could enjoy the space and in this way, highlight the rehabilitation of architecture from the beginning of the 20th century, a practice that historically does not exist in the city of Murcia. During those years we had the pleasure of curating events with chef Amor González, chef Juan Carlos Ruiz, Isabella Bo, Pati Gagarin, Ladies Wine and Design, Maga Comunicación, Cervezas Alhambra, Club de lectura feminista Demoleer, Jazz Noise or Discomalva.

“The door opened and the house was filled with people. The intimate became exposed. We, regular inhabitants, exchange roles with our guests. They, with their laughter, perfumes, objects, steps… filled the house. And then, almost in a moment, everything reversed again. The domestic sensitivity generating a new mode of publics”.

Thank you to all the people who accompanied us during the last 10 years in our home.