A plot with a twelve-meter elevation drop, on the north face of a hill, lacking the surface area to accommodate the proposed program, rocky terrain, a forest to be preserved and, as usual… the urge to put a poke on a pig.
Our quest to make the most of the natural features in the surroundings led us to pursue a solution that enabled the home not only to blend into the landscape, but also to reflect and multiply it.

Hence, a polyhedral geometry unfolds, coated in iridescent blue-green steel that merges with the sky and the trees, reflects the nearby pines, and rises up to let the floor slip underneath… an ironic twist to Bruno Latour’s Green regime?

The building was developed as an interface, a mediation device that opens up unavailable spaces and puts them to use.
The lower level, carved out of the hillside, was assigned to functions with less of a need for natural light, along with access to the upper level. Between this access area and the one to the plot, a shadow cast by the upper section creates a covered driveway.
The upper section, on the other hand, is a staple piercing the earth: a suspended overhang that creates an inner cavity, which in turn creates a south-facing wall that lets the breeze and the sunlight pour into the indoor spaces.

This suspended area is closed off by a roof coated with the same material as the outer walls, which envelops the entire building and enables rainwater to run freely to the ground, watering the plot’s natural shrub land vegetation.

bulthaup Partner: bulthaup Murcia, Quarta
Architecture project: Javier Peña Galiano – XPIRAL
Contractor: Juan Carlos López Orenes
Photograph: Juan de la Cruz Megías
Construction date: 2006
Area: 467m2
Location: Murcia. España

The bulthaup showroom in Sant Cugat, Criteri, was recently featured in the “Retrato” section of the July issue of CASA VIVA magazine.
In an in-depth, detailed interview, its managers explain how honesty in their work implies a commitment to finding the best solution that will fulfill their customers’ needs while also exceeding their expectations. Creating pleasant environments that improve their users’ quality of life is the aim of Criteri’s residential projects.
We share the published interview with you.

Not long ago, two new landmarks appeared in the bulthaup showroom network, and neither one of them has passed unnoticed. The powerful character of each one of these projects, based on clearly distinct conceptions, make them representative of new trends within a brand philosophy that is strong enough to be capable of holding its own in a variety of languages and accents.

Needless to say, there are other common elements as well: both spaces invite us to come in, stay for a while, look, touch, and experience sensations. And both have a clear focus on the customer.

The Barcelona showroom blends into the ground floor of a building designed by José Antonio Coderch and Manel Valls in 1958 awarded a FAD prize in 1960. Laura Íñigo, the showroom’s interior designer and director, explains that the space offers an intuitive itinerary through the different bulthaup systems following a layout similar to that of the residential apartments in the building’s upper floors. Instead of limiting the space, the two interior supporting walls, running perpendicular to the façade, break the surfaces up and enable visitors to explore the different options bulthaup has to offer, setting it apart from the open spaces we find in so many other showrooms. The experience suggests the proportions and divisions in a real home, while also making it possible to visualize each configuration individually, without distractions–and on a human scale, easy to extrapolate to one’s own home. “We’ve made the most of a compartmentalized structure, turning it around to make it work for us, not against us,” explains Laura Íñigo.

The staff has also moved out of the office and closer to the customer. At bulthaup Barcelona, Bach 7, a 60 square meter white cube, raised on a white platform, stands in the central space. Set against this luminous background, we find contrasting dark wood in the desks–a nod to the original materials from the 1950s building–, matching the outdoor woodwork and the stairs leading to the basement level.

Speaking of his showroom in Girona, Leopold Bautista tells us that “the aim was to adapt to our customers, to elicit their having an overall experience rather than simply seeing kitchens in different styles and finishes. We have broken away from the notion of a showroom as an exhibition area, creating a multipurpose space. We want professionals and the general public to see things we didn’t used to show before, things we kept backstage.”

Bautista’s space and the Barcelona showroom both share a common aim of moving closer to the customer. Here, in Girona, that closeness has an accent of its own: a video wall catches the eye of passers-by, conveying the company’s philosophy and seducing the uninitiated with bulthaup’s visual appeal. One they’ve been drawn in, the bulthaup staff takes a step further: one of its members goes up to the door and invites the passerby in, the way things used to be done. This long-standing sense of hospitality continues with a cup of coffee and a conversation. Gradually, the message of the bulthaup brand sinks in as the guest yields to the atmosphere, the friendliness, and the presence of a series of undeniable tangible elements: woods, laminates, pull-outs, drawers…

A central space provided with one large active kitchen with a wooden table–the place to gather–also contains an island that encloses all sorts of surprises: a while laminated block whose pull-outs the bulthaup staff opens to reveal its hidden treasures. In this one we find hinges, screws, rails, and profiles. That one unveils handles, a steel foot, a plinth panel. Several drawers jutting directly out of the wall belong to the same archipelago, enclosing their own well-kept secrets. Old-time hardware store? Breakfast at Tiffany’s? The customer, in the best of company, explores the thousand and one secrets of an exceptional brand.

“The area for project presentations is larger than in the previous showroom. We realized it was a key moment in our work,” recalls Leopold Bautista. Sitting around the big table, “we discuss the customer’s needs, look at samples, and glance at the two screens that enable us to view virtual images where the customers identify their own homes, even with the landscape they see outside their windows and doors, helping them to make their purchase decisions.”

Another element that must not be underestimated: a designated area within the showroom for the kids to have fun frees customers up so they can relax and stay focused. In addition, the element of fun is there for grown-ups, too! Workshops, presentations, and gastronomic events aimed at professionals and the general public open up the showroom and breathe new life into the space time and time again.

In Barcelona and Girona, the two new showrooms converge in offering a hands-on experience of the product’s quality, with the main focus always clearly placed on the object of all its efforts: understanding and satisfying the bulthaup customer.

bulthaup Barcelona, bach7,
bulthaup Girona

Puntas de Calnegre, Murcia. A protected area whose cliffs and coves shape a ragged coastline. A barren landscape where the wind blowing in from the south reminds us that Africa is not far.

On the edge of this nature reserve, a white and grey vantage point juts out from a rocky hill covered in cacti. In a community whose people are still bound to the earth and to the sea, making the most of both its potential and its limitations, we encounter a bold interplay of volumes that happens to merge surprisingly well with its surroundings. A space whose apparent austerity springs to life with the small and great daily pleasures of its inhabitants: a couple, with the sea and a life ahead of them, who love to surf and to fish. A setting that invites one to retreat, but also to bring a handful of good friends together.

The four floors in the house share a central element: a staircase, hand built with 10mm sheet metal, and a HEB 220 beam, both made of stainable steel, that takes off from the basement and head upwards, connecting the different levels all the way to the roof deck. The garage and storeroom in the bottom level house the couple’s vehicles: a car, boats, and windsurf boards. The ground floor encloses the least exposed, most private area in the building, including the bedrooms, the laundry room, and the main hallway. If we keep on heading upward, we suddenly stop dead in our tracks. The view spans the entire arc of the bay. The heart of the home opens out to the sea, to the outlines of the hills, breaking the barriers between outside and in. The open space that contains the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room extends seamlessly out to the terraces.

We keep on going up the stairs: on the roof, from the sun deck, we witness a stunning uninterrupted panorama of those same hills, of that same sea.

We return to the central space in the house. The rough-hewn, somewhat industrial character of the exposed materials on the walls and ceilings is appeased by the views pouring in the picture windows, tamed by the persuasive elegance of the centerpiece: an immense bulthaup island.

The owners were well aware of the role they were attributing to a kitchen that was so exposed, acknowledging the need for its being endowed with exceptional character and quality. bulthaup b3 system units with white laminate fronts were installed with an oven that allowed for baking the largest catch of the day; the work area was conceived as a space to be shared with close friends.

At Puntas del Calnegre, people don’t fence in their land. They have a different sense of boundaries. A good harvest, a great day out fishing: reason enough to gather and celebrate.

In an environment where the perfection of simplicity prevails, bulthaup sets the perfect stage for sharing everyday pleasures.

bulthaup Partner: bulthaup Murcia, Quarta
Architecture project: Javier Peña Galiano – XPIRAL
Contractor: Juan Cañavate Llopis
Assistant architects: Jesús Galera, Pablo García
Photographs: David Frutos
Construction date: 2007
Area: 450m2
Location: Lorca, Murcia, Spain.

We encourage you to read the article published in the May issue of AD Architectural Digest Spain, providing an overview of the history of the bulthaup brand, its leading figures, and its current strategy. According to bulthaup CEO Marc O. Eckert, “Form follows function, which serves our customer’s needs. We’d rather avoid speaking of design, because the word has a ring of temporariness, of trends that are here now and gone tomorrow, whereas our products strive to be timeless. We pare forms down to their barest essence. It’s something we’ve drawn from the Bauhaus tradition.”.

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