Partners in both professional practice and private life, María Langarita and Victor Navarro first met in the booming pre-crisis Madrid of the early 2000s, when anything seemed possible for a pair of young architects. Despite the tough economic times that followed, they have nurtured a spirit of loose, inventive play in a series of small commissions, temporary installations, and renovations. These range from the Red Bull Music Academy, a village of rehearsal spaces encamped in the hall of a former slaughterhouse in Madrid, to a vacation house for the families of three brothers that spills down a terraced hillside in Alicante.
When they first met, the two found a common interest in art. “Artists are the first to give ideas potent images,” Langarita says. “Architecture is less direct, more processed.” Langarita came from a small town in Aragón. She attended Pamplona's school of architecture, then began working in the office of Luis Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón in Madrid. Navarro, the son of the architect and painter Juan Navarro Baldeweg, was finishing his studies at Madrid's ETSAM architecture school. They began looking at contemporary art to find ideas and started their eponymous firm, Langarita-Navarro, in 2007.
You have 0 complimentary articles remaining.
Unlimited access + premium benefits for as low as $1.99/month.