Spanish designer Lucas Muñoz has created an innovative showroom for furniture brand Sancal by converting a former 1960s office building in Madrid, using exclusively materials that could not be recycled from the original space. The project, called CoLab, represents a groundbreaking approach to sustainable design and has been shortlisted for a 2025 Dezeen Award.
Located on the fourth floor of the O'Donnell 34 building, the showroom occupies a space with significant architectural heritage. The building was designed in 1966 by architect Antonio Lamela and is recognized as Madrid's first modern office building. Muñoz and Sancal transformed the 300-square-meter space into a hybrid showroom and workspace where clients can experience Sancal's colorful and playful furniture in an environment that emphasizes collaborative design approaches.
The project's philosophy centered around the motto "what can't be recycled remains," leading Muñoz and his team to carefully dismantle the existing office space, which had been refurbished in the 1990s to house a notary firm. The designers removed non-structural partitions to create a modern, open floor plan while stripping away technical solutions like floating floors and false ceilings to reveal the original terrazzo floors and concrete columns, which were then carefully restored.
"The office's modular material approach allowed us to dismantle and re-consider each piece as a potential intervention element," Muñoz explained. "Very little demolition was required, meaning recovered pieces could be evaluated according to their impact to decide if they must stay or if they could be recycled." This approach promoted circularity through material reuse and reassembly of existing elements while matching the per-meter cost of a standard office refurbishment.
The salvaged materials were repurposed through an extensive workshop-style project that lasted several months and involved architects, designers, artisans, and socially driven organizations. Construction company Zimenta collaborated with Muñoz's team to find innovative new uses for materials that would otherwise have been scrapped, including composite flooring and ceiling systems. The existing ceiling panels were broken down into smaller pieces using a custom-made steel comb and then combined with plaster to create textured cladding for the entrance area wall.
One of the project's most creative solutions involved transforming existing fluorescent light housings into LED fixtures with bespoke wooden frames, a task undertaken by the non-profit Asociación Norte Joven, which supports young people at risk of social exclusion. The aluminum undersides of existing flooring plates were polished and applied to walls, where their reflective surfaces amplify daylight entering through nearby windows. Additionally, new walls required for the restrooms were created by cutting existing masonry walls loose from the floor and ceiling, mounting them on wheels, and repositioning them without producing any waste.
The project showcased numerous other examples of creative material reuse, including repurposing aluminum from existing partitions as shelving and transforming steel pedestals into coat hooks and handles. The old fluorescent fixtures were even converted into a giant chandelier. However, Muñoz noted that one of the most challenging aspects was managing materials during the lag time between demolition and repurposing.
"The biggest lesson from the project is that transforming a construction site into a material laboratory for in-situ transformation implies a high level of space organization and process scheduling," Muñoz said. "This is very uncommon, since the normal process is that old materials leave and new ones arrive. In our experimental approach, nothing leaves." This methodology required unprecedented coordination and planning to ensure materials remained on-site throughout the transformation process.
Muñoz operates his multidisciplinary studio from Madrid, employing a hands-on approach to exploring functionality and materiality in objects and spaces. His previous projects include a restaurant interior created almost entirely using upcycled construction waste and sculptural furniture made from repurposed ventilation pipes. The CoLab project demonstrates how sustainable design practices can be successfully implemented in commercial spaces while maintaining both aesthetic appeal and functional requirements, setting a new standard for environmentally conscious interior design in the architecture and design industry.
