We start the project of the hairdresser’s salon in a gaunt space that connects from north to south one of the town’s main streets with a back garden, full of charm and history. Under a thick layer of plaster, we discover a wall made of volcanic rock, which offers to accompany us throughout the linear space that we have at our disposal. We have to determine a complex programme of enclosed and semi-enclosed pieces, and, furthermore, we are convinced that the main element – the hairdressing room – has to be the last element on the way, with a direct relation to the garden.

Given that premise, we accept the need for some partition walls. However, we don’t want to lose an opportunity to design a connected and continuous space, with a diaphanous spirit. That is why we design a construction module, whose repetition will let us solve the whole project. It is a 28 x 250 cm tubular metal frame, which we project in three versions: bare, filled with a metal-chain curtain or filled with opaque black glass. These three degrees of transparency let us deal with different degree of intimacy of the spaces in the layout without losing the visual relation between them: from generating space just with bare frames in the hairdressing room and in the waiting room, to the maximal intimacy of the opaque glass in the private area and the bathroom, going through the visual filter of the metal chains that, like locks of hair, serve as a kind of shelter for customers at the hair washing sinks and in the pedicure zone.

The construction module designed for the project is arranged according to the framework marked by the flooring junctions. From this point, such elements as lighting, shelves or special facilities find their position in the space based on this structure. Steel and wood are materials that, playing between locks of hair and reflections of the old stone, bring us to the garden where all the hustle and bustle of daily life stops for a few moments.