For Marcela Lozano, reinvention comes naturally. As she was growing up in Argentina, her family had a common refrain: ¿Para que podrá servir esto? Or, What could this be used for?

“It’s a phrase that we said all the time,” recalls Marcela. For instance, if her father bought a new washing machine, he would keep the pieces and parts of the old one for future repairs. For him, and Marcela, it’s not about saving money, but the creative exercise of reuse, and the satisfaction of giving an overlooked object new life. (She still remembers her first project as a child, crafting mouse figurines from cocoa beans, which she sold to neighbors up and down her block.)

More recently, Marcela launched Füür (“fire” in Swiss German), a design studio that produces durable products from salvaged fire hoses sourced in Switzerland and Barcelona. So far, the line includes indoor/outdoor rugs, garden chairs, and pet accessories, like harnesses and collars, some with Bombers de Barcelona (the name of the city’s fire service) still stamped on the yellow rubber.

Marcela started repurposing fire hoses after attending a community event at the fire station in her hometown in Switzerland. (She splits time between there and Spain). “I saw the hose in the corner and asked them, ‘What do you do with that?’” says Marcela. Upon discovering that it was thrown away, she immediately asked: “Can I have it?”

The tough, flexible material has properties similar to leather, so Marcela sought out artisans capable of manipulating it, and she eventually found them while visiting a cousin who lives in southern Spain. Barcelona was the nearest big city with flights back to Switzerland, so in 2022 she bought the ground-floor storefront in a 100-year-old building on a busy, multilane street in the Eixample neighborhood—and she tapped architect and friend Paula Herrero to transform it into a studio and a home.

Now, her company motto unfurls across an opaque glass wall in the front: One Planet, Two Lives. Immediately inside is Marcela’s high-ceilinged studio, bathed in diffused light, with industrial shelving stacked with coils of colorful hose. Bringing this light throughout the narrow plan was Herrero’s main challenge in the redesign.

Before: Storefront

After: Entry Hall

“The light only came from the front and the back terrace, so it was really dark, with many walls,” says Herrero, who worked on the project remotely from her Buenos Aires office. “The main goal of the project was to capture all the natural light.”

Adding more glass to the front and rear facades helped, as did removing walls that weren’t structurally necessary. Herrero placed Marcela’s workshop on the street-facing side of the building, then carved out an entry hall to serve as a buffer between it and the residence.

In the hall, a sculptural, white metal staircase leads from a wood platform that doubles as storage and seating up to the mezzanine floor with the primary suite. A circular window admits a bit of light through the solid brick, and allows Marcela to glance into her studio from the top of the stairs when she comes down in the morning.

Before: Staircase

After: Staircase

Under the mezzanine, Herrero designed a set of sliding, stacking glass doors that can be deployed to create a flex room. A Murphy bed unfolds for overnight guests, and blackout curtains can be drawn for privacy. The flexible space can also be used for workouts, or opened up to provide additional room while entertaining. The lofted bedroom above has a glass wall, interior windows, and curtains to control light and privacy.

Before: Storage Room

After: Mezzanine and Flex Room

At the rear facade, large glass doors open to a garden with unexpected views of the Sagrada Família, Gaudí's iconic unfinished cathedral, just two blocks away. Today is a holiday, so the cranes that hover over it are paused; other days Marcela enjoys watching their incremental progress from the peaceful remove of her home.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

As for the finishes, “We wanted to keep the story of the building raw,” says Herrero, who restored the brick walls and Catalan vault ceilings, then painted them bone white to highlight their texture and create a neutral backdrop for artwork, or Marcela’s prototypes, in the future. It’s a fitting milieu for someone like Marcela, who loves the act of reinvention.

Even the floors are a simple reminder that inspiration is everywhere, if you know where to look. “The white hexagonal mosaic floors are inspired by the historic Panot tiles found on Barcelona sidewalks,” says Herrero. “We picked them because whenever Marcela travels, she always takes pictures of what is under her feet in the streets.”

After: Dining Room and Living Room

Before: Back Terrace

After: Back Terrace

More Before & After stories:

She Pivoted a “Corporate” Apartment Into a Cozy, Wood-Wrapped Home

In Spain, an Architect Restores an Iconic Home Built by His Grandparents

You’d Never Guess This Tiny Oasis Is in the Middle of São Paulo

Project Credits:

Architecture: Paula Herrero Arquitectura / @paulaherreroarq

Builder: Arch Lluis Aguilar

Structural Engineer: Ratio Ingenieria

Civil Engineer: Oriol Ors

Landscape Design: Pau Jardiner

Interior Designer: Paula Herrero Arquitectura and Füür

Appears In

Before & After: A Surprising Home Springs Up in a Basic Barcelona Storefront