CREARCTIVE Turns a Málaga Shop Into Four Apartments

A former open-plan commercial space in Málaga, Spain, is now four independent residential units — and the whole conversion hangs on one move: working in section. CREARCTIVE, the firm behind AA Apartments, exploited the building's four-meter clear height by inserting a centralized service spine that frees the perimeter of each apartment and carries a mezzanine level above.

It's a simple mechanism once you take it apart. Instead of carving the floor plate into a chain of rooms, the architects packed everything that needs plumbing, power or storage — bathrooms, kitchen areas, walk-in closets, storage and MEP services — into one compact core. That single decision does three jobs at once: it leaves the perimeter open, it allows unimpeded air circulation, and it keeps visual continuity across the full depth of each apartment.

How does the mezzanine get its light?

The mezzanine sits directly on top of the service volume and works as a flexible, multi-use loft space. The problem with putting a loft over a core is light — so the architects cut a geometric oculus into the partition wall. That opening establishes a diagonal light connection between the mezzanine and the double-height living area, and it channels daylight toward the rear bedroom zone, the part of the plan farthest from the windows.

Getting up there is handled by a garnet-red metal ladder mounted onto a built-in bench. It's the project's most legible gesture, and the color doesn't stop there.

What does the material palette do?

Daylight enters through high-level, atelier-style clerestory windows along the facade. The placement is deliberate: the windows illuminate the interiors while maintaining street-level privacy, which matters in a ground-floor commercial-to-residential conversion.

The palette stays neutral for the most part. Neutral-toned flooring pairs with white walls, and a subtle tonal shift along the upper wall boundary helps scale the vertical space — a quiet trick that makes four meters read as proportion rather than emptiness. Garnet-red accents then punctuate the metalwork and carpetry, echoing the ladder and giving each unit a consistent signature.

Who's behind it?

Lead designers on the project are Carlos Arias Garnelo and Rafael González García of CREARCTIVE. Photography is by Nicolás Díaz, whose images document the oculus, the red stair, the walk-in closet, the mezzanine and the bedroom zones.

AA Apartments joins a growing body of adaptive-reuse work that treats leftover commercial floor plates as housing stock. The section-based strategy — core in the middle, loft above, clerestories at the edge — offers a replicable template for similar deep-plan premises where perimeter-only layouts would leave dark interiors.