Casa Rico&Ana | La Errería * architecture office

After many years of large interventions, the time for 'minor-surgery' constructions has arrived. If the new demands of society do not require major interventions anymore, architects should not fill our cities with lavish buildings. This new "small" architecture works like a precise scalpel: repairing the damage and regenerating the fabrics of our cities and homes in an adequate and meticulous way. The renovation for Rico&Ana's house was an example of this. This unfinished "lavish building" - or finished in parts - requires an effective architectural exercise to acommodate the building to the needs of our clients.

This project starts from Brazil, as a curious commission. Our clients wanted to reform a house for their stays in Spain.

In addition, the tight economic budget forces us to multiply, even more, our skills and to optimize the resources.

The first Skype meetings were a trustworthy exercise. The trust, we promise, was returned.

So, this small-scale operation acts mainly on the existing, understanding that not everything must be destroyed and, subsequently, regretted. We worked on the real, recognizing in the house certain values that could be a pleasant starting point.

One of these key points is the central space, around the fireplace. A premise was the construction of a space around the fire. Thus, we proposed them to turn their house into a dance around the fire. A circumpolar tour, a dance within the house.

As if it were not enough, in the middle of the construction work, the clients told us that they had planned to move to Spain definitely (with a third baby on the way!).

We did not want to be the protagonists of this project, we know that the memory of our work here will be fleeting, but if our intervention serves to make a part of their lives a bit happier, our effort will not be for nothing.