Building Inwards: An Interview with Architect Borja Ferrater

From an aerial view, the wings of the AA House look like paper. They seem almost fragile and  incomplete, as if waiting for hands to manipulate and fold them. They are full of possibilities—like blank sheets of paper or building blocks or legos. They are dynamic. They are alive. 

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Only by looking at the structure from the ground do the sheets of paper take a three-dimensional shape. Each wing holds its own section of a home. There is a library, a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room. Light fills these spaces with warmth and comfort. Every detail of the house promotes luxurious living while still maintaining this sense of coziness. It feels, fundamentally, like a home meant for people. 

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The AA House, like the other structures designed by the Office of Architecture in Barcelona (OAB) is designed specifically for its clients. It keeps their interests in mind. It supports their way of living. Its specificity is a thoughtful representation of the OAB’s goal: to create individualized spaces that elevate their clients’ lives.  

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This client-to-architect relationship is fundamental to understanding each of the OAB’s projects. Last week, I had the privilege to speak with Borja Ferrater, a Founding Partner Architect at the OAB, about this principle. Ferrater studied biology at Temple University in Philadelphia and later went on to graduate from the International University of Catalonia as a licensed architect. He is the winner of several architectural awards, including the FAD (Spain’s national award) and the International Association of Lighting Designers’ Lighting Award. He is an extremely thoughtful and purposeful individual, whose work illuminates the extent to which architecture depends on and provides for people. 

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T: What motivated you to pursue a career in architecture? 

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B: I initially studied biology at Temple University in Philadelphia, but my father [Carlos Ferrater] is an architect. Since my father is an architect, I always grew up with architecture around me. Even my sister [Lucia Ferrater] is an architect. My brother-in-law [Xavier Martí Galí], too. And my mom is an interior designer, so I was kind of condemned from birth to be an architect. Though I kind of knew, since birth, that I wanted to be a biologist because I love marine sciences and dolphins, I ended up quitting biology and switching before I really knew it was made for me. It took a while before I decided to do it, but I do not regret it now. I love it. It is my passion. The reason I became an architect had a lot to do with the passion that my father, my mom, and my sister all have for architecture. 

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T: Could you tell me a little bit about your firm, Office of Architecture in Barcelona (OAB)? What are your specialities? 

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B: We are not very big. We are about 25 people. But we are special because we work with any budget. We do luxury, but we also work with NGOs. We do any typology. We have done anything from airports to hospitals to museums to hotels to single-family houses. Any kind of discipline. We have done urban planning, landscape, and interior design. We are a boutique firm. We are only 25 people, but we have worked in more than 25 different countries. We did some projects in the United States, in Miami and California. There are some architects that end up being very specialized in one type of building or discipline. In my case, we are quite strong at doing luxury hotels, but we have also done museums, retail, and office buildings. Examples are: a botanical garden in Barcelona [Barcelona’s Botanical Garden, Spain]; a high-speed train station [Intermodal Station ‘Zaragoza-Delicias’, Spain]; and a waterfront in Benidorm [Benidorm West Beach Promenade, Spain].  

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T: You mentioned that OAB has designed projects in more than 25 different countries. As an international architect, how do you design buildings for different cultural and environmental contexts? 

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B: When we were working with Kaplankaya [Kaplankaya Clubhouse, Turkey], the client wanted to do a big resort with Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin Oriental Hotels, but ours was the first intervention. The first building was going to be the sales center. They would be selling houses there. So, we took this project very carefully because we were a little bit frightened to do this project in the middle of a virgin landscape. When we are doing a project internationally, we try to take a humble approach. We try to learn a lot. So, we went to the library. We tried to learn about the history. We studied the different archetypes of Muslim architecture and the Ottoman Empire. We also took a trip. We spent ten days going around to nearby villages and noticed these construction techniques with stone. We decided that our building had to be done with stone. So, we wanted to do a kind of print, like stucco. The building on top would have to look like a Greek temple—with modern methods of construction. We did this kind of fortress wall that was made with stone from the site. We hired the local villagers, so we kind of reactivated the economy. Going back to your question, when working abroad, when working in such a special place like this, we try to always research a lot about the context. International architects have to be careful to not be too arrogant and to not bring imperialistic or pre-established ideas. In OAB, we try very hard to not become a franchise. We cannot do one thing in China, and then do it again in Dubai, and then again in America. No. Every place, every client, has its own particular condition. For us, every project is a blank sheet of paper so we start from scratch. 

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T: I was reading about the Kaplankaya Clubhouse on the OAB website, and I also noticed that it has a very thoughtful relationship with its topography and natural environment. Could you elaborate on this relationship a bit? 

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B: After the clubhouse, we created the Six Senses [Kaplankaya Six Senses Resort, Turkey]. Working with the landscape is a little bit like working with different geometric patterns. We thought it looked a little bit like a Turkish carpet, which has different geometric systems that combine to live together in harmony. It’s the same for topography. For the hotel, we wanted to do camouflage. It’s almost like an octopus. We wanted to hide as much as possible of the building. The rooftop is made with specific species from the region, like thyme, rosemary, oregano. We designed that hotel as environmentally-friendly as possible and to have as little impact as possible. But it’s a huge hotel, actually.   

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T: You already touched on this, but could you elaborate on your design process? What steps do you take when figuring out how to occupy a site? 

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B: As I mentioned, every project is a completely new thing. Sometimes, it’s because of the place or the site. If you’re working with the cultural inheritance of a place, like in Turkey, then you have to be very careful. In this case [for the AA House, Spain], it’s for a millionaire or a billionaire. The site actually didn’t have anything really interesting. It was a beautiful plot. It was kind of in a clear in the woods. It was grass surrounded by a forest, but there were no views. When we started thinking about a house there, the first thing we wanted to do for our client was make it a one-story house with parking underground. But the parking was very interesting for this client because the owner of the house has a collection of cars. We also decided: If we don’t have any views to look at, let’s design this house with a premise of sunlight. So, we designed the whole house according to the north. We oriented the night part of the house, like the dining room and the library, to the northwest. In Barcelona, northwestern light is the nicest light when you have dinner in the summer because it’s where the sun sets but is not too strong. In the morning, you have the best light in the southeast because when you wake up you see the sun rise. So we designed the whole house orienting it to the different sun rays. 

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We also thought of this house as the “Orygamy House” because it’s kind of inspired by origami. It’s as if you could fold paper and build this house. The house is very big, but it is only for two people who like to have parties. We were afraid that the house would feel too big and that they would feel like they lived in a huge palace that wasn’t domestic scale. So, we divided it into divisions. The exterior is made with big tiles that try to represent the concept of paper. And then, the house has like 7 secret stairs that take you to the underground. The basement here is very special. For example, in the library, you have a hidden stair that takes you to the cinema and cigar bar. From the master bedroom, you access the gym. You also have this area with Porsches. The parking is part of the house. You have the stainless steel and you have all of the cars there. Magnificent, beautiful art pieces.  

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T: I am really fascinated by this idea that every project is “a completely new thing.” Could you give me a few other examples of spaces that you designed with a specific function or client in mind? 

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B: One interesting project [Viladoms children’s summer camp, Spain]. This is a children’s summer camp. We work pro bono for an NGO that deals with kids who have problems at home with drugs and domestic violence. When we were designing, we wondered, “what does a child draw when they draw a house?” We wanted them to feel like they were in a village, in a house, so that’s how we designed this kind of “hometown.”  

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This is another very interesting project [Cocina Hermanos Torres Restaurant, Spain]. I keep highlighting the relationship between the architect and the client. It’s a bit different than the painter or the sculptor. Yes, they do have clients sometimes if private clients commission a piece. But for an architect, you work with the money of someone else. You make spaces that are inhabitable for other people. You look for their comfort. You look for their goals. So these are two twin brothers who are very famous chefs in Spain. They have 3-star Michelin restaurants. And when they came to the office, they said, “we want more a kitchen with a restaurant than a restaurant with a kitchen.” They inspired us with that. We decided to put the kitchen inside the restaurant. The restaurant is the kitchen. When you eat, you see the cooks cooking. It’s really amazing. It’s like a show. 

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Another project is in Beirut [One Independence Square Building, Lebanon]. It’s in the center of Beirut. For us, for Mediterranean people, public space is very important. In this project, we eliminated the columns so that the ground floor is free with public space. All of the above floors are being held from the sides and from above. In that way, you don’t have any columns in the interior. You can use it as a kind of public square. 

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T: I was also really interested in your design of the Roca Barcelona Gallery in Spain. It has such an interesting relationship with light. What do you view as the ideal relationship between architecture and light? 

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B: Well, that is a very interesting question. It would take me a long time to explain, but I will try to make it short. The Roca Gallery was my first project as an architect and it was a kind of “brand building.” Roca is a multinational company that creates bathroom products. When we wanted to do this building, we were looking at other examples of brand buildings like the Apple Store or the Prada Building in Tokyo. We decided that the building had to be kind of translucent so you don’t see too much. And then, we wanted to bring in this liquid kind of element. So, we designed it with 4,200 LEDs that are controlled by a computer. They are dimmable, so the light moves up and down. Light in architecture is the prime material. It’s the main ingredient. Natural light, but also I love to work with artificial light. We tried to use light [in the Roca Barcelona Gallery] as a little bit of a protest against showrooms that are overexposed. When you enter a Mango Store or a Zara, it’s almost like you’re in a casino. It almost looks like it’s always daytime because the light is overexposed. So, we designed the spaces inside this building opposite from how they are usually designed. We made it dark inside. You only have this natural daylight coming in. Then, at night, it turns and the interior is very dark. Everything is black so that you can focus on the screen and everything that is exposed. The bathroom products are shown like pieces from a museum. It’s very interesting how these affect the psychology of the people. When they enter, they become quiet. Maybe it comes from our primitive past, since we would get quiet when we entered a cave. Subconsciously, when people enter this space, they become quiet and they don’t speak loud. And it’s because of this darkness. The project was this whole exercise of working with daylight and the reflection, refraction, diffraction, of light. Then we were also working at night with different elements of artificial lights and LEDs. 

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T: The Premium Casino Andorra seems to rely on the manipulation of light in a similar way. Could you talk a little bit about your thought process while designing it? 

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B: Andorra is a border country between France and Spain. That is where my wife is from—and my children. It’s interesting because I didn’t really want to do this project because casinos are not something that align with my values. But I really had to do it because the client was a family member. So I thought: “Let’s break this traditional concept.” When you are in Las Vegas and you are inside [a casino], you don’t know if it’s daylight or night. So, I convinced the client to make this casino more translucent. In the daytime, the people would see natural light. At night, it would be lit from the inside and it would glow—which is something a casino needs to do to call attention. At the same time, people are gambling and you cannot show them gambling because it’s very private and it’s only for people over 18. So we did this translucent building where you can see the silhouette of people but you don’t really see them. 

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T: How do you see the future of architecture changing over the next decade? How do you foresee OAB adapting to changing times?

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B: I submitted a design for a Chinese competition [South Sea Pearl Eco Island, China]. It’s a very crazy project. It’s an island—2 kilometers in diameter. We didn’t win this competition. We didn’t build it. But, this project for me was really important because it was on a large scale. That opened the door for me to create a new company, a sister company of OAB, which is called “Enterprise for Large International Architecture” (ELIA). There was my father’s firm. Then, we turned it into OAB. Then, we created ELIA. OAB is a traditional company in the sense that we do it the old way. We are more analogic. We work with models. We work with our pencils. Of course, we use technology. We use computers. But ELIA is the next level. We’re using artificial intelligence. We’re using parametric design. That’s the next thing. You better be adapted to that, even in art. So we are working with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, BIM (Building International Modeling). It’s all about technology. We created ELIA to protect OAB, so that ELIA can be the muscle and OAB can be kept as the traditional office where we are more artistic and still use the pencil. 

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T: I want to end with a quick discussion about what you think is important to architecture. What are your guiding principles at OAB? How do you structure your approach to the practice? 

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B: Here is a little summary of the things I tried to explain about our company. We want to grow in quality—not in quantity. We do not want to be 200 people, but we want to always do better. We do research by design, so every project is a new research. We kind of start from 0 each time. I think sometimes experience is a burden. Experience is very good. It is important. But sometimes it becomes a burden. If you want to repeat a formula, maybe you will be wrong. Another thing is making sure that people are capable of identifying your architecture without being a franchise. It’s very dangerous to do the same exact thing everywhere. It’s language versus having a style. We don't believe in having our own style. We don’t have a style. We have a language. We do things our own way, but that doesn’t mean that our buildings have to look the same. We use different materials, different strategies, different structures. The other thing to think about is that our company tries to do minimum marketing but maximum networking. We try to do our best and work with the best. We surround ourselves with great collaborators and engineers. And then, there is client satisfaction. That is probably the most important, no? If your client is satisfied, is content, is happy with you, then everything will go well.  

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