Living in Harmony with the Sea

Holiday homes in coastal locations provided some of the most memorable works of the modern movement in Spain. One need only recall emblematic examples such as Gomis House, known as La Ricarda, designed by Antoni Bonet Castellana in El Prat de Llobregat, Can Lis by Jørn Utzon in Mallorca, and Rozes House by José Antonio Coderch in Roses. These homes, designed in a direct dialogue with the Mediterranean landscape, represent a moment of synthesis between architectural modernity and vernacular sensibility, where the materials, construction solutions, and placement in the landscape responded to both the principles of rationalism and an adaptation to the surroundings. Unlike the urban planning rooted in real estate speculation that characterized the subsequent expansion of tourism, these works are inserted delicately into the landscape and reflect an inclusive vision of architecture, climate, and geography. In them, the act of living on the coast is understood as an aesthetic and contemplative experience, not as an intensive exploitation of space. They are early examples of an alternative way of relating to the coast, although the lack of regulation of coastal occupation led to the construction of homes in places that, today, could not be legally occupied.

The A Roiba House is a beautiful and unique example of a holiday home located directly on the sand, on the Atlantic coast. Designed in 1961 by Ramón Vázquez Molezún and located on the Pontevedra estuary, it is one of the most outstanding works of modern Spanish architecture of the 20th century. It is an exceptional work not only due to its formal quality, but also for the sensitivity with which the designer approached the relationship between the architecture, the landscape, and the coastline. A Roiba offers a deeply conscious response to the natural and cultural environment around it, establishing a respectful dialogue with the site. Far from imposing itself on the landscape, the house seems to perch lightly atop it, as if it were floating, using pre-existing infrastructure as a base – piers and walls from an old salting factory – which it rests on with the delicacy of a boat run aground. The interaction with the sea is constant: the tides and currents are an active part of the architecture, even partially flooding the ground floor, which was designed as a storage space for small boats. This intimate and changing relationship with the water reinforces the ephemeral and adaptable nature of the house, almost as if its architecture were amphibious. However, that same fragility was compromised at the beginning of the 21st century, when the construction of a new breakwater altered the coastal dynamics and led to an increase in the force of the waves, which began crashing directly against the structure. In 2014, a crowdfunding campaign launched by the family managed to prevent the house’s destruction, highlighting both its heritage significance and its status as an architectural manifesto in defence of a sensitive and respectful way of inhabiting the coast.

In Ibiza, the Bechtold House – like so many other modern homes built in historic settings along the Mediterranean coast, for example, in the old centre of Cadaqués – illustrates a characteristic feature of a certain modern architecture connected with the sea: the sensitive reinterpretation of elements from the vernacular tradition. The Broner House, designed by Erwin Broner in 1956 and located in the Sa Penya neighbourhood, offers a paradigmatic example of how architectural modernity can engage respectfully and creatively with the local context. Rather than literally replicating popular Ibizan architecture, Broner reinterprets it through a rationalist language that preserves its fundamental principles: cubic volumes, whitewashed walls, flat roofs, a layout adapted to the uneven terrain, and a fluid relationship between the domestic interior and the exterior space. The house is arranged in stepped terraces that respond to both the topography and the climate conditions, promoting natural ventilation and capturing views of the sea. This integration between the landscape and the urban surroundings is achieved without concessions to the picturesque, in a moderate and austere architecture that is nevertheless overflowing with sensitivity. The Bechtold House thus embodies a modernity that responds to the site, capable of drawing on local construction knowledge to develop its own contextual and timeless language. It shows that modern architecture does not necessarily need to be opposed to tradition but can use it as a fertile source of critical and design inspiration.

Roger Subirà/Fundación Docomomo Ibérico