Architecture Meets Perfect Colour Palette

The Estonia-based photographer Andrés Gallardo Albajar has captured the timeless and stunning allure of La Muralla Roja (The Red Wall), the famous housing complex designed by architect Ricardo Bofill in 1973.

The photographs, taken in Calpe, Spain, highlight its beautiful and distinct combination of cubes in space. Its fortress-like design and vibrant colors not only enhance the otherworldly tone of the images, but also add to its intrigue.

Ph. © Andrés Gallardo Albajar

Located in the La Manzanera development, La Muralla was designed more like a waterfront fortress, with walls colored in varying shades of red and stairs in tints of blue to either contrast with or complement the sky.

The buildings, which are connected by a series of interlocking stairs, platforms, and bridges, extend from rocky cliffs and look out over the waterfront. Fifty apartments within the complex are equally as complex, offered in three different sizes.

Ph. © Andrés Gallardo Albajar

The complex on the one hand, embodies a clear reference to the popular architectures of the Arab Mediterranean, in particular to the adobe towers of North Africa, and to a reinterpretation of the Mediterranean tradition of the casbah. At the same time, the labyrinth of this recreated casbah corresponds to a precise geometric plan based on the typology of the Greek cross with arms 5 m (16’) long, these being grouped in different ways, with the service towers (kitchens and bathrooms) at their point of intersection.