Spain’s Costa Brava is a rugged stretch of shoreline northeast of Barcelona where desirable second residences rise from steep slopes to offer views of the sea. The area’s building codes regulate what can be built through setbacks and height restrictions and clients inevitably want to maximize the footprint, so the design problem quickly becomes about balancing compactness with fragmentation, Mónica Rivera of Emiliano López Mónica Rivera Arquitectos told AN Interior on a recent call about a house here that the office began in 2018 and completed earlier this year.
The home, two floors above a basement, reads as opaque walls upon arrival that then open up to the horizon. The plan is “quirky, because we are responding forces that you don’t see,” Rivera said. While the main volume aligns with the topography to minimize earthwork, retaining walls, and foundations, the living room is rotated to prioritize the ocean view. The layout was also designed with cross ventilation in mind, so spaces have openings on both sides to allow the sea breeze to pass through.
Upstairs, the bedrooms are small, which encourages indoor-outdoor gathering on the main level. Here, the living room leads to the kitchen, and both spaces spill out onto the shaded patio and open deck. This separate but connected arrangement reinforces the cultural aspect of the home as an intergenerational gathering place where family or friends can stay for extended visits.
A couple with young children commissioned the house. The wife is an educator and a swimmer. The husband is a professional basketball player who studied interior design. Given his interest in the field, he was closely involved throughout the design process and selected some of the furniture, like the sofa and porch chairs.
Cala d’Aiguablava’s clear waters deepen from turquoise to cobalt, so the residence takes on a similar gradient. (The bay’s name means “blue water” in Catalan.) The underground, cave-like hammam is clad in dark blue tiles, the main level in blue, and the upper floor in a lighter blue, while the pool is faced in green. These finishes come from Ceràmica Cumella, a famed Catalan tile factory founded in 1880.
Outside, the home is structured by a trabeated portico of polished, precast concrete columns and beams set outboard from Jansen windows and Vitrocsa sliders. The architects and the client worked with the manufacturer UBASART to customize the stone mix’s sizes, proportions, and colors, which range between blue and gray. (The company also produced the pavers that surface the patio and the window jambs and headers on the upper level.) The remaining walls are infilled with brick and lined with continuous insulation, which reduces the load on the PV-powered aerothermal system that heats and cools the space.
The color story continues inside, where the pale-green kitchen millwork supports custom terrazzo countertops made by Huguet in Mallorca. Above, blue tiles line the backsplash, which is illuminated by baby blue sconces from NEMO, originally designed by Charlotte Perriand. The aforementioned Vitra sofas are complemented by an elliptical Eames surfboard coffee table from Herman Miller. Nearby, the wooden stair guard, painted in a light sage hue long favored by the office, is “very strategic,” Rivera observed, as it navigates the tight radius of the steps with beveled vertical pieces that can be fitted to the concrete structure.
Though small, the practice typically employs two or three designers at a time beyond its partners. The atelier specializes in low-energy and low-carbon construction: Its mass-timber house in Arteaga is currently on view in Internalities, the Spanish Pavilion’s exhibition at the Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice. And the cofounders have a presence in the U.S., as Rivera directs graduate studies at the Rice School of Architecture, and next spring López will be a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. Rivera also served as a juror for AN’s Best of Design Awards last year.
The house in Aiguablava is the latest example of Emiliano López Mónica Rivera Arquitectos’ expert ability to realize thoughtful dwellings that unite site sensitivity, smart construction logic, and stylish interiors—all of which set the stage for a good life.