M 15: renovation of a home in the Colonia Unión Eléctrica Madrileña featuring Gres Aragón reddish- tone clinker tiles

Natural extruded clinker-style ceramic floor tiles in a reddish tone feature in the busiest ground floor areas of home M 15.  

The home is part of the Colonia Unión Eléctrica Española, an international benchmark for garden cities dating back to the first half of the 20th century.  

A project by MÍNIMO architecture studio.

The Chamartín district, in the heart of Madrid, is the site of the Unión Eléctrica Madrileña housing community, an urban planning option for large cities that was introduced in the first half of the 20th century. It is the site of home M15, which has been completely renovated by MINIMO architects in a project that includes the contemporary application of Gres Aragón natural floor tiles.  

Madrid's housing communities or garden cities, which today are part of the centre of the Spanish capital, represented a new approach to collective housing models in the outlying areas of cities. The aim was to decentralise the metropolis and absorb its rapid growth and expansion.  

The community where home M15 is located was developed by Valentín Ruíz Senén, the managing director of Unión Eléctrica Madrileña, to provide housing for the company's employees. The Madrid electricity company's garden city, built in the 1930s and today a listed site, is made up of detached single-family homes, surrounded by a garden on all four sides and characterised by their common architectural style in the heart of the Spanish capital.   

The renovation work, based on respect for the building's original character and its surroundings, includes the reorganisation of the home's interior to optimise the interior spaces, improving the connections between them and enhancing the relationship with the landscaped exterior. The ground floor houses the rooms used on a daily basis, organised into interconnected transversal bands that are linked directly to the exterior. The home has been extended and original garage converted into the kitchen.

The architects' choice of coverings were based on criteria of comfort and durability, combining a range of materials. It is for this reason that the decision was made to use the same Gres Aragón ceramic tile throughout.

Reddish ceramic tiles add character to the home  

Aciker Plus, the name of this tile, is a porcelain clinker tile with excellent technical characteristics (destined for industrial uses) which also stands out for its aesthetic qualities. Extremely hardwearing and resistant to abrasion, this extruded product has a natural appearance in keeping with the true essence of ceramic tiles.

For this home, red Aciker Plus tiles were used. Other advantages of this tile is its Bioklinker anti-bacterial properties, achieved through the use of cutting-edge technology to prevent the growth of bacteria, fungi and yeasts, whilst also ensuring a product that is effective against odours and stains.  

In the words of the architects, M15 is a project for a  "a simple home that respects the original architecture, renovated in accordance with sustainability criteria and the desire to recover spaces from the original layout that were unused, such as the garage and the loft, integrating them into the new life of this house".