Ane Arce and Iñigo Berasategui, founders of the Bilbao, Spain–based architecture firm BeAr, envisioned RABE as a design challenged with recovering the memory of a historic warehouse. The 650-square-foot structure had been abandoned for more than 40 years, but the duo felt a pull toward the space. It has varied yet distinct uses: Two floors allow the studio more space to work, but the building also lends itself to organizing exhibitions and conferences.
Berasategui said, “We took the facade inside.” After designing a new custom metal door, the designers intervened on the long, loftlike interior with a 55-foot table in saponated iron that cuts the floor in two. Everything revolves around it: “It’s the protagonist,” explained Berasategui. Supported on pedestals, walls, and block stairs, the table invites you to work, eat, or climb on it, go down, and walk around it.
BeAr’s studio culture is built on conviviality and shared meals—and knowing how well people eat in Bilbao, this is not surprising. “We all eat lunch together and sometimes also have dinners where we invite colleagues,” he said. Under the staircase connecting the first-floor gathering space, shelves and a compact kitchen have been built with simple materials: concrete from the nearby town of Guernica and more of that raw saponated iron.
But these materials are anything but drab in application. One look at the studio space and the electric color palette stands out: touches of orange, blue, and green—the colors of the BeAr studio logo—make even ordinary finishes like railings and appliances stand out.
The second floor, however, is a surprising counterpoint to the bright, open plan at ground level. Originally the offices of a construction company, the space was lined with abundant built-in cabinetry. But these upper-level spaces are no longer standard offices but variously sized meeting rooms, the studio’s archive, and model-making workshops.
The cabinetry was preserved—a gesture to remain faithful to the site’s history—but each unit was first dismantled and lacquered in warm, rosy colors. A deep red carpet connects these with the dark wood paneling enveloping the rooms. The playful feeling of the ground floor remains but in a subdued and distinctly cozy manner.
RABE is based on this strong visual contrast between the two floors. Emphasizing the raw industrial feel of the warehouse on the first floor and the vintage office feel on the second, the design decisions invoke one of the major inspirations for the studio: the Sonneveld house by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt. “Beyond the fact that it is an example of the so-called International Style, it shows that this era was not white and has a precious and very human use of color and texture” said Berasategui. They identify with the house because it is a house as comfortable as a machine: efficient, hygienic, and designed with its inhabitants in mind.
All this has to do with BeAr’s philosophy. RABE is in tune with the “hygienic” demands of the modern lifestyle. “We believe that architecture should have an intellectual weight. It is important to produce architecture as well as thought,” said Berasategui. To produce architecture as well as thought is an obsession even on the smallest scale. There are clear points that are repeated: joy, fearlessness, or the design of objects. Berasategui admitted, “We are frustrated artists.”
The RABE studio setting might not be for everyone, but its bold choices and convivial programming make it a perfect home for BeAr. It’s the starting point for many of the studio’s adventurous—and even controversial—projects. It tries to strike the difficult balance between being opportune and opportunistic. The goal of remembering the humble warehouse through the spatial design roots BeAr in the moment as well as on the site.