penthouse

The first meanings of penthouse mentioned in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) allude to what is linked to Attica, a region belonging to Greece which has as capital Athens. Attic, in this setting, is the demonym of this area and the name of the dialect of the classical Greek language that was spoken there.

At present, however, the most common use of the term attic appears related to the architecture. The attic is called space that is located on the top floor of a building, below the roof. It is also known as an attic to the place that allows to hide the cover of the facade or the beginning of the roofs.

An attic can be a loft, loft or attic. In this case, it is usually intended for storage of items that are not used frequently. For example: "I'm going to order all my books and notes from the university to keep them in the attic", "Yesterday, cleaning the attic, I found my collection of magazines from the '80s", "I keep my childhood toys in the attic".

Faced with a difficult economic situation, many times the attics are reconditioned as a room so that a person live in that environment: "When I lost my job, I had to go live in the attic of my parents' house", "The child sleeps in the attic since we cannot move to a larger house".

On the other hand, sometimes the use of the attic to fulfill a different function than the usual one does not have to do with economic problems, but perhaps the opposite or the passion for the decor. There are many examples on the Internet of penthouses that have been completely renovated to become offices, workshops, craft rooms or bedrooms, among other ideas.

If we don't have so many things to store in the attic, or if we can donate or sell them, this way we can get a space more intimate, that allows us to concentrate or find inspiration, without having to make a large monetary investment.

The cinema often uses the figure of the attic as a key element of the films Horror. Although in certain countries the presence of this type of room is not very common in most houses, they are easily recognized internationally, and are ideal for generating moments of great tension.

As with basements, which are not so common in all parts of the world, in the attic order and hygiene do not always reign, but rather a large number of boxes and furniture covered with dust and wrapped in cobweb. To this are added the small or irregularly shaped objects that have not been properly stored, all crowned by the poor illumination which can supply a single bulb.

Attics can also become departments (apartments), which may or may not be luxurious. This is possible when, in a new building, the space is used for the construction of a house. In Spain, for example, a home that is located on the top floor of a building is known as an attic and, although it usually has a higher price than the rest of the apartments, this is mainly due to the fact that it has larger dimensions and a porch.

For example, in a edifice With two apartments per floor, the attic is likely to cover the equivalent of two houses, with much of the space devoted to an open patio. Among the advantages of the attic with respect to the rest of the options is a greater degree of privacy, more luminosity and, depending on the area in which it is located, better views.