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🇪🇸 Spain /Culture & Society

It looks like Ibiza, but it is Barcelona: A rustic house overlooking the Mediterranean

From La Vanguardia · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • An interior designer has transformed a 210-square-metre house in Barcelona’s Vallvidrera district with local materials and a Mediterranean-inspired style.
  • Handmade ceramic pieces, custom-produced for each room, combine 1970s references with natural wood and changing daylight.
  • The house opens toward the Collserola landscape, with interconnected spaces designed to receive light from different angles.

In Vallvidrera, where Barcelona gives way to the forest, a village house now carries the atmosphere of a Mediterranean retreat. Interior designer Alex March shaped the home around local materials, Catalan and Spanish tradition, and a warm contemporary feel.

The white lime and cement finishes of the façade already created a Mediterranean mood. March continued that exterior language inside, refining it through handmade ceramics. The 210-square-metre layout places a study, bedroom and bathroom downstairs. Upstairs, the living room, dining room and kitchen sit alongside another bedroom and bathroom, opening toward a terrace connected to the Collserola landscape.

The project also reflects March’s attachment to the 1970s. Born during that decade, he says its creativity continues to influence his work, particularly in furniture, ceramics and applied arts. Ceramic murals inspired by the period appear throughout the house, translated into custom-made pieces for each room.

The façade, made with lime and cement finishes in white tones, already created a clearly Mediterranean atmosphere. That is why it made perfect sense to continue that exterior skin inside the house, reinterpreting it in a more refined way.

· Alex MarchMarch explains the design concept that links the house’s exterior and interior.

The tiles combine gold and silver tones with natural wood. As daylight changes, it falls across the surfaces and alters their appearance. Because every piece was made to order, its size and color could match the precise area it covered. The process took longer and left room for tonal variations and small differences between pieces, which the project treats as part of its character.

The ceramics were made by Julio Bono of A4 Ceramic, whose father created numerous murals for building entrances and façades, including the one at Barcelona’s Sants station, now housed at the Museu del Ferrocarril de Catalunya. March describes himself as carrying both “seny” and “rauxa”, Catalan qualities associated with reason and exuberance.

I think I have a bit of both sides: seny and rauxa.

· Alex MarchThe designer describes the balance of restraint and exuberance reflected in his work.
About this summary

Originally published by La Vanguardia in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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