Traditional architecture vs. contemporary needs: Where’s the balance?
Traditional architecture vs. contemporary needs: Where’s the balance?
In Gautegiz Arteaga, one of the most beautiful villages of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, there is a property that stands out for its uniqueness and beauty in addition to the magnificent Arteaga Castle: ‘La Casa del Mirador’ (‘The Viewpoint Estate’), a villa surrounded by a garden that was built by an “Indiano” (a Spanish emigrant who sought their fortune in America and returned to Spain rich) in the nineteenth century. After years of disuse, its owner has recently decided to breathe new life into its bones, creating six independent apartments inside. The project has been entrusted to Zebra Lab, an architecture studio with offices in Pamplona and San Sebastián, which will carry out the work throughout this year. Directed by Cristina Burgos and Borja Izaskun, this company offers zoning advice and carries out comprehensive remodels of houses and other types of real estate while also building new residential and service buildings. To undertake the transformation of the ‘La Casa del Mirador’ Estate, they will empty its interior, preserving only the wooden structure and facade. The interior layout will be reworked, creating six small apartments. With the aim of keeping the building’s character alive, the original beams will be left visible, as well as other architectural details. They will also do work on the landscaping of the grounds, completely redesigning them and adding a community swimming pool for the new tenants inside the landscaped environment featuring organic forms.
The ‘La Casa del Mirador’ project is not the only one that the studio has on its hands at the moment. In fact, they are currently remodeling a villa on the outskirts of Pamplona, turning it into a home with almost zero energy consumption. Their work will include the emptying of the building, the elimination of a load-bearing wall, interior redistribution, and the addition of a skylight that will allow natural light to flood the main staircase.
2020 was an intense year for Zebra Lab: in the center of Pamplona they renovated three luxury apartments in a building from the beginning of the twentieth century. Its rectangular shape, featuring a narrow front facade and a long depth, prevented the passage of light to many of the homes, which made it necessary for the interior layout to be redesigned. Zebra Lab took advantage of the work to expose some of the original details of the building, such as the original moldings and high ceilings, hidden for decades under drop ceilings. Even so, the most important project done by the studio last year was the one they carried out in the Old Quarter of Tolosa, where they gutted a large building to construct 11 apartments inside. The renovation included adapting the common areas for people with reduced mobility and the addition of an elevator and a new staircase.
Another noteworthy project was the construction of a traditional country house in Aia for a family of milk producers. This property blends in with the rest of the surrounding buildings with a marked rural character, aiming to preserve the Basque landscape and following the rigid guidelines of zoning regulations. Even so, good use was made of cutting-edge construction techniques to ensure modern needs in terms of comfort and durability, achieving a very efficient home with almost zero energy consumption. This is a good example of just how flexible the architects are in terms of their designs. They do not provide “cookie-cutter” solutions in a specific style but instead adapt to the different conditions of the environment and, of course, of their clients.
We at BASQUE LUXURY have been watching the moves of this young architecture studio for years and have observed exponential growth in the number of projects they take on – allowing them to recently expand their human team. The reason for this growth is simple: Zebra Lab is determined to achieve a balanced between traditional architecture and contemporary techniques, needs, and concepts – and this has led them to achieve the absolute satisfaction of all the individuals, companies, and institutions that have chosen them for their architectural needs. We will continue to watch and see what new jobs they surprise us with in the coming years.
Zebra Lab
Tel.: +34 943 297 666
