Studio Plutarco co-founders Ana Arana and Enrique Ventosa. Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

When Arana and Ventosa first encountered the three-storey property, it had been abandoned for years and was in a state of severe disrepair. Rather than restoring the house to a specific historical condition, the architects approached it as a blank canvas while remaining attentive to the era in which it was built. Research into modernist villas from the 1930s informed a design language that draws inspiration from figures such as Robert Mallet-Stevens and Piero Portaluppi without ever slipping into nostalgia.

Throughout, a vocabulary of curves, circles and graphic motifs lends the house a distinctive visual identity. Arched openings, rounded corners, cylindrical volumes and circular cut-outs recur from room to room, softening transitions and establishing a sense of continuity. Polka dots, grids and stripes appear across furniture, joinery and surfaces, introducing moments of playfulness, while carefully placed flashes of colour, including the studio's recurring use of "unexpected red", animate everything from the entrance canopy and custom furniture pieces to light switches and decorative details.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

The residence unfolds across three levels. On the ground floor, the open-plan living and dining area forms the social heart of the house. Vaulted ceilings finished in high-gloss terracotta-hued lacquer and extending into the entrance vestibule immediately announce the scheme's expressive character, while a pivoting screen separating the entrance from the dining room sets out its whimsical intelligence: one side continues the surrounding wall treatment, complete with wainscoting and a artwork by Xevi Solà, while the reverse reveals a mirror that subtly alters the atmosphere of the space.

The furniture carries the same spirit of eclectic playfulness. In the seating area, Cini Boeri's Strips sectional sofa from Arflex is paired with Terje Ekstrøm's whimsical Ekstrem armchairs and a lamp from Ingo Maurer, while the dining area features bespoke furniture by Studio Plutarco, including the Escote chairs, named after their scooped, décolleté-like backs, which feature cream perforated frames with flecked midnight-blue upholstery. Their circular perforations are echoed throughout the house, most notably in the staircase balustrade which, together with richly veined marbles in contrasting colours, recalls the entrances of Piero Portaluppi's Milanese villas of the 1930s.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

On the lower ground floor, which opens onto an unusually large interior courtyard, a second living area pairs a dining space with a family room built around the STV sofa, designed by Studio Plutarco for Rabadán with nothing more complicated in mind than watching a film together. Multi-tiered curtains lend the room a quiet theatricality, while a square red mosaic wall echoes the sofa's striped upholstery. Outside, the courtyard functions as a verdant extension of the living spaces, combining striped red and brown paving, lush planting, a blue-tiled barbecue and a green mosaic-clad plunge pool into what the architects describe as a small climatic oasis.

What makes this house compelling is that its expressive character never feels arbitrary, with every colour, pattern and object contributing to a larger architectural narrative. In an era when many homes aspire to serenity through reduction, Studio Plutarco proposes an alternative vision where comfort emerges through richness, individuality and delight.

Photography by Germán Saiz.

Photography by Germán Saiz.