The renovation of a shop into a gallery and jeweler’s atelier explores the idea of room within a room. Located in the ground floor of a middle scale residential building in a residential and commercial neighborhood, the store has two floors: one in the street level and the other in the underground.

Our proposal distributes the store and the atelier in a way in which both can interact in the same space whereas maintaining certain independency one from the other. This is why the atelier is a “small room” in the store, which is subtly separated by means of a step, lower height, change of material and a curtain.

In this way, while the store functions as an open space of exhibition, reflections and transparencies –configured by the presence of a series of cabinets and panels that hang from the ceiling, limiting and expanding the space- the atelier is instead a wooden niche that tries to provide the necessary protection and privacy for the work of the jeweler.

The exhibition room in the underground is similar to any other contemporary art gallery, in the sense that it is a neutral space: a neutral room with white walls and ceiling, well illuminated. Its exception lies in the presence of a compagnon that tries to serve as a background panel and as a hiding place for a secret niche that was painted orange.