Make it Simple

My article on this artist's studio outside Barcelona appears in the latest issue of architektur.aktuell, which is dedicated the theme "Plain and Pure."

" 'A temple' is what the artist Eduardo Arranz-Bravo calls his new painting studio. 'With this height and the light moving through, it's a temple of art,' he exclaims. The monumental impact of the space derives from its great simplicity, which amplifies the spatial tension generated by two or three formal moves – chiefly, the irregular pyramidal ceiling topped by an off-center skylight."

I must confess, however, that I was really taken by the artist's original house,which features tiers of open spaces around a descending staircase that follows the slope of the site. It was designed for living, not the concentration required for producing art and looking at it:

"The house was designed in 1991 by a friend, the Italian architect and art dealer Lanfranco Bombelli, but in a style and spirit that dates to the 1970s, when the two formed part of the vibrant cultural scene at the coastal resort town of Cadaqués, where Bombelli built many homes. With the simple, vernacular forms of its exterior and the open but cozy spaces inside, filled with artwork by friends and including a sunken, built-in seating area around the fireplace, the house is a testament to the vibrant lifestyle of Barcelona's cultural elite during that era."

The Bubble 
Garcés De Seta Bonet Architects
Jordi Garcés + Daria De Seta, Project Architects
Eduardo Arranz-Bravo Studio, Barcelona
architektur.aktuell 409
 Aprit 2014, pages 66 - 75, cover

Photos © Adrià Goula