Lecture by Francesc Rifé at MArch

DATE

20.05.2026

Francesc Rifé gave a lecture at Espai Alfaro, diving deep into an unmistakable design philosophy structured around order, respect for materials, and restraint. The designer broke down the keys to an architecture that shuns spectacle and visual imposition, opting instead for solutions that accompany discreetly, adapt to pre-existing conditions, and draw all their eloquence from a deliberately quiet tone of voice.

His work is not new to the students, who were already able to glimpse the foundations of his methodology last January during an exclusive visit to his studio in Barcelona. On this occasion, Rifé connected that initial encounter with his professional reality through a series of projects which, despite their differences in scale and purpose, share an absolute devotion to context and the heritage of the site. His core message centered on the idea that intervening in the past does not imply a nostalgic replication, but rather an exercise of respect and precise measure.

The journey through his architectural work provided clear evidence of this conceptual balance. At the Tritium winery, for instance, the architecture engages in a direct dialogue with the original wine cellars and walls, rescuing wine-making tradition from a sharply contemporary perspective. Meanwhile, Casa Pujol demonstrates how a single subtle curve holds the power to organize the entire domestic space, integrating so fluidly into the surroundings that it seems to have been dictated by the landscape itself.

This same logic of restraint and surgical precision is successfully translated into his recent commercial and exhibition spaces. In the Nino Álvarez stores in Madrid and Barcelona, noble materials such as marble and steel are reinterpreted through a clean lens where every architectural detail matters. Similarly, the Farsight showroom masterfully blurs the boundaries between ceramics and artistic pieces, while the ephemeral designs for Vibia and MCI Light presented in Milan demonstrate his ability to transform light itself into a constructive, tangible element: nuanced, essential, and devoid of excess.

To conclude his presentation, Francesc Rifé invited the students to approach each commission as a challenge to simplify the gesture and intensify the intent. Projects like Can Bellpuig, articulated around a single technical solution that binds the entire design together, or Casa Grande—an old manor house transformed into a hotel that invites guests to experience time with calmness—perfectly embody this approach. Ultimately, the session became a valuable lesson on how to restrain the stroke, the light, and time to breathe life into an architecture that does not demand immediate attention, but rather aspires to permanence.