new season: tick-tock, tick-tock… piano piano is almost ten

The summer holidays have passed, that time of year when everything seems to stand still, and then, suddenly, September is back. This new season (yes, we still think in terms of the academic year, which helps us structure life around its holiday breaks) is an important one for us, as next spring we will celebrate 10 years as a studio. And it is a number that gives us a slight sense of vertigo: where are we? Where would we like to be? Sometimes the answers are not the ones we might have imagined some time ago, but they are what they are.

In this year of celebration, we have set ourselves the goal of writing more — not only about our projects, but also about what we hope might happen, and perhaps even daring to write more critical pieces on current issues, accessible to a wider audience and connected to what interests us about architecture.

Through this small window, open to anyone who might want to read us, we are going to allow ourselves to be candid. Reaching a round number like this commands a certain respect (it is no small thing to have kept a company going all these years, to have trained people and collaborated with so many others), as well as a sense of responsibility. But it is also an opportunity to recognise what we have got right, what we have learnt and, most importantly, to look back and decide where we would like to focus our attention over the next 10 years — or more.

Our personal, social, geographical and administrative context, together with the people and projects we become involved with and the serendipitous encounters along the way, is ultimately what defines us, regardless of the aspirations, preconceived ideas or flights of fancy we might once have had. Despite everything that can still be improved, over these years we feel that we have moved forward on solid ground and that, as a brand, we are creating something strong that makes us recognisable in the way we express ourselves and approach our projects. Here is a little preview of what is coming up at Piano Piano over the next few months:

We have several projects cooking, waiting for quotations from contractors that will hopefully allow them to be built. Anyone working in our field, or thinking about building, renovating or refurbishing (which is quite likely if you are reading this), will know about the delicate situation surrounding construction costs: fluctuating prices, labour shortages and the financial difficulties of bringing projects to fruition under these circumstances. But that is all part of it. Architecture projects are long-distance races, and what matters is being able to enjoy them once they are finally complete. At different stages of this process are the rehabilitació d’una alqueria a l’horta de Meliana, a place for rest in the middle of our cherished protected agricultural landscape, and La casa espacial, a house between party walls in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Castelló de la Plana. Here, we have worked with a contemporary Mediterranean imaginary, combining postmodern geometries with a slightly surreal aesthetic: diamonds, cylinders, triangles and small touches of colour that lend the project a certain naïve, theatrical character.

There is also Casa cuatro estaciones

in Alfafar, a house with a hidden inner courtyard that once again makes us think of the Mediterranean, but this time from a more playful perspective: the sound of water falling into a fountain, lattice screens that visually filter the spaces, and ornamental elements and geometric patterns that create an atmosphere of calm, filled with a breeze coming in from the sea.

Currently at the detailed design stage are a house in Llíria, our first time venturing into straw construction, where the owners will be very actively involved in the building process, and a residential building in Natzaret, the third project we will undertake with one of our most cherished clients.

Several other projects have already passed through this stage and are about to begin construction: Casa mira qui passa, a through-house connecting two streets in the historic centre of Cheste, where we completed the demolition of the existing building just before leaving for the summer holidays; and, finally, a refurbishment in the Russafa neighbourhood, where curves, arches and cylinders overlap in the form of columns, cupboards and openings, creating sequences of small scenes and framed perspectives, with timber playing a defining role throughout much of the project.

One project we are particularly excited about, currently in that evocative early stage, is a house in a beautiful woodland setting among pine trees, terraces and olive trees. For us, it is our first opportunity to approach a project where we can explore residential architecture in direct contact with nature and create a retreat drawing on a wide range of references. For now, we dream of a house full of life, books, art and colour, lifted slightly above the ground and framing the landscape through carefully chosen windows and intermediate spaces.

Instead, at the end of the day, the Casa del arcs, a quiet place in the Cabanyal neighborhood that hides surprises behind a false facade.

Finally, for some time now we have been keen to move beyond the boundaries of architecture and, among other projects, this will be the year in which we are finally able to bring mínima to market, both as a ceramic collection and through a small venture into furniture: a coffee table conceived with the same spirit in which the ceramic collection was born — colour, joy, geometry and fluidity. Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, the table has something of an objet trouvé quality while retaining its practical purpose as a piece of furniture.

Welcome to our year of celebration.