Interview with Steven Holl for TC Cuadernos
Interview with Steven Holl for TC Cuadernos
23/03/2026
Fran Silvestre has interviewed Steven Holl on the occasion of the monograph that TC is publishing on his work, in a meeting that becomes a profound reflection on the principles that have guided his architectural trajectory.
Throughout the conversation, both architects address fundamental questions such as phenomenology applied to architecture and the capacity of spaces to generate unique sensory experiences.
Holl elaborates on his interest in perception, light and materiality, explaining how these elements come together to construct atmospheres that go beyond mere functionality. Architecture, as he suggests, is not limited to solving programs, but acts as a medium to intensify human experience through the senses.
As a guiding thread of the interview, several of his most emblematic projects are analysed, used as case studies to illustrate these ideas. In them, a constant pursuit of the intangible becomes evident: the way light transforms space, how materials engage in dialogue with their surroundings, and how users perceive and inhabit architecture.

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TC Cuadernos publishes a new monograph on Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
Nueva monografía de Fran Silvestre Arquitectos con TC Cuadernos
16/03/2026
La editorial TC Cuadernos publicará próximamente una nueva monografía dedicada a la obra de Fran Silvestre Arquitectos. Titulada La sublimación de lo cotidiano, esta publicación se centra en los proyectos de vivienda desarrollados por el estudio y propone una lectura sobre la manera en que la arquitectura puede transformar lo cotidiano en experiencia espacial.
El volumen constituye la primera entrega de un conjunto de dos monografías que abordarán diferentes escalas y ámbitos del trabajo del estudio. En este primer número se presentan principalmente casas unifamiliares, proyectos en los que la relación con el lugar, la luz y la materialidad adquiere un papel fundamental en la configuración del espacio.
El segundo volumen, titulado Gran escala, diseño interior y sistematización, ampliará esta mirada incorporando las obras de mayor dimensión, los proyectos de diseño interior y aquellos desarrollos vinculados a la industrialización y a la sistematización constructiva.
La publicación cuenta con prólogos de Álvaro Siza, Aires Mateus y Emilio Tuñón, tres figuras clave de la arquitectura contemporánea cuya reflexión acompaña y contextualiza el trabajo del estudio.
Esta nueva monografía continúa la relación editorial entre TC Cuadernos y Fran Silvestre Arquitectos. La publicación anterior dedicada al estudio fue reeditada en cuatro ocasiones, reflejando el interés sostenido por su trabajo. Con estos dos nuevos números, se espera continuar esa misma acogida y seguir compartiendo la evolución y diversidad de los proyectos del estudio.
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New project finished in Alicante: Cano House
New project finished in Alicante: Cano House
09/03/2026
The project is articulated through the logic of the program and its placement along a main avenue in Alicante. The dwelling is organized into three clearly differentiated areas: the night zone, the day zone, and a space dedicated to training and sports practice.
The architecture is positioned along the western edge of the plot. This displacement allows the expansion of the outdoor space associated with the living area, intensifying its relationship with the garden and the pool. At the same time, the placement preserves the existing large-scale trees, which are complemented by new plantings intended to consolidate, over time, a denser garden. The main access occurs from the eastern side, through a quieter street, thereby reinforcing the privacy of the house.
Between the day zone and the sports area, a transitional space is arranged, oriented almost north–south, which acts as a connector and promotes cross ventilation. One of the fundamental premises is to orient the night zone toward the east, ensuring its direct relationship with the morning light. A greater clear height is also pursued in the main space. The volumetry is resolved through two lower volumes between which a larger body is inserted. This latter volume, corresponding to the living area, appears to rise slightly, emphasizing its presence and giving identity to the proposal; its deep edge reinforces this condition, allowing the volume to appear as if it levitates above the space it protects. The thickness of this body allows for the integration of a deep structural system within it, enabling the main space to span its entire width without intermediate supports. The day zone is thus conceived as a continuous environment, in direct relationship with the exterior pavement and the sheet of water, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior and reinforcing the open character of the house. Inside, the materials are resolved through a continuous and warm chromatic palette. Some vertical surfaces and furniture elements are executed in oak wood, providing texture and depth to the whole. This decision, together with the color temperature of the lighting, gives the proposal the intended domestic character.
Ultimately, this is an architecture that emerges from the place and the program, a matter as simple as it is complex to bring into reality.
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New project in Montenegro
New project in Montenegro
02/03/2026
The site, facing the Adriatic, does not establish a single direction. The horizon dissolves between the sea and the mountains, and the surroundings lack clear references to guide orientation. In this absence of signals, geometry becomes a form of search.
The project for this new residence in Montenegro emerges as a piece precisely placed on the terrain. When the landscape does not impose a front, the circle appears as a response capable of relating to everything without imposing itself on anything. Its trace avoids choosing a single viewpoint and allows every point along the perimeter to engage in dialogue with both the immediate and distant surroundings. The plan is conceived as a neutral support that accommodates the program without rigid hierarchies. The rooms are arranged around a central void that organizes domestic life and introduces light as an integrating element. It is light, rather than boundaries, that constructs the space. The continuous perimeter path allows the landscape to be incorporated seamlessly, offering changing views of the sea, the vegetation, and the sky.
The house adapts to the topography while minimizing earthworks. A stone base anchors the piece to the ground and establishes the necessary level to frame the horizon. Above it, the main volume is materialized through a clear and precise structure, where the continuity of materials emphasizes the unitary character of the whole.
From a distance, the house is perceived as a serene, almost abstract figure. From within, the space expands in all directions, allowing the landscape to be experienced without imposing upon it. We are interested in understanding this architecture as a silent mechanism that makes it possible to inhabit an extraordinary place without altering it, constructing a new episode in dialogue with tradition and time.
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New Project in Iraq | Office Tower
New Project in Iraq | Office Tower
23/02/2026
Fran Silvestre Arquitectos presents a new office tower project in Iraq, conceived as a vertical piece that explores the relationship between geometry, light, and perception.
The tower is structured around four cylindrical volumes, completed by a slender and pronounced vertical opening on one of their sides. Each of these openings is oriented in a different direction, offering specific perspectives and views from the interior. This arrangement generates a changing experience, as the building acquires a variable identity depending on the angle from which it is observed, reinforcing its dynamic presence within the urban environment.
The envelope is composed of small-format louvers that filter natural light, allowing controlled illumination to enter while ensuring interior comfort. This system acts as an intermediate layer between interior and exterior, adding depth to the façade and giving the tower a light and permeable presence.
The project proposes an architecture defined by geometric precision and the control of light, where form not only responds to formal criteria but also shapes the spatial experience and the building’s relationship with its context.
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Lecture by Kengo Kuma at Espai Alfaro with MArch
Lecture by Kengo Kuma at Espai Alfaro with MArch
16/02/2026
We had the privilege of welcoming the renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to Espai Alfaro, in a session that allowed students from the MArch Valencia school to experience first-hand the thinking and trajectory of one of the leading international figures in contemporary architecture.
During the lecture, Kuma shared some of the most representative projects of his career, offering a direct insight into the processes, decisions, and values that have guided his work over the years. Among the presented projects, he highlighted large-scale works such as the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, as well as already iconic buildings such as Sunny Hills Minami Aoyama and the Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art. He also addressed projects closely linked to context and landscape, such as the Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum and the Yusuhara Community Library, in which architecture is understood as a natural extension of the place in which it is inserted.
Beyond these widely recognised works, Kuma placed special emphasis on small-scale projects and on research into construction and assembly systems. In this regard, he presented the Chidori system, developed for Milan, as an example of how material and constructive experimentation can open new spatial possibilities, even from seemingly simple solutions.
Throughout the lecture, the architect emphasised the importance of materiality in his architecture, as well as the need to understand each project through its integration with its surroundings. Lightness, both physical and conceptual, was another key aspect addressed, understood as a structural quality and also as an attitude towards design and the relationship with the cultural and natural context.
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Sobretaula d’Arquitectes with the Colegio Territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia
Sobretaula d’Arquitectes with el Colegio Territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia
09/02/2026
Last Friday, February 6, the Colegio Territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia visited our studio on the occasion of the launch of a new initiative titled SOBRETAULA d’arquitectes, a series of meetings that proposes opening architecture studios across the province as spaces for conversation, exchange, and shared reflection.
The first session of this new format took place at the studio of Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, located in Espai Alfaro, the former workshop of sculptor Andreu Alfaro in Godella. The gathering brought together architects and young professionals in a close, informal atmosphere, over coffee, to gain first-hand insight into the studio’s day-to-day reality and the professional moment it is currently experiencing.
SOBRETAULA d’arquitectes is conceived as a series of monthly meetings, held on the first Friday of each month, with the aim of creating spaces for collective conversation around contemporary architectural practice. Through these visits, the initiative seeks to showcase the diversity of ways of practicing the profession in Valencia, focusing on internal processes, work organization, and the real dynamics of everyday life within architectural studios.
During the session, the team at Fran Silvestre Arquitectos shared how an internationally oriented studio is structured and evolves, addressing their approach to residential, cultural, corporate, and public projects, at both small and large scales, in different contexts and locations around the world.
This first meeting marks the beginning of an initiative that is committed to strengthening the young architectural community, fostering a more conscious and plural view of the profession, and creating direct links between studios and architects in training.
An afternoon of open conversation, shared learning, and architecture experienced from the inside, inaugurating a cycle that promises to become a key meeting point for Valencian architecture.

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House in Sotogrande selected for ArchDaily’s Building of the Year Awards 2026
House in Sotogrande selected for ArchDaily’s Building of the Year Awards 2026
02/02/2026
Our project, House in Sotogrande, has been selected as one of the nominees for the Building of the Year Awards 2026, organized by ArchDaily.
House in Sotogrande, located in a privileged natural setting, articulates its geometry through a sequence of precise volumes that open naturally to the landscape. Conceived from an idea of spatial continuity and structural lightness, the house seeks integration through an architecture that prioritizes light, silence, and proportion. The selection of House in Sotogrande represents a new international recognition of the studio’s work.
These awards, considered one of the most influential distinctions in the digital architectural landscape, annually recognize the most outstanding projects worldwide across different categories. ArchDaily is one of the most influential architecture platforms internationally. Founded in 2008, it has become a reference medium for professionals in the field around the world. Its main objective is to share projects, ideas, and debates around architecture, design, and the city.
You can vote for us by clicking here.
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House in Sotogrande among ArchDaily’s 100 Best Architecture Projects of 2025
House in Sotogrande among ArchDaily’s 100 Best Architecture Projects of 2025
26/01/2026
At the end of the year, ArchDaily publishes its selection of the best projects of 2025, a list compiled based on the interest and response of its global readership.
The analysis highlights the main trends of the year, with a strong presence of residential projects and a particular focus on integration with the landscape.
Our project, House in Sotogrande, has been included among the selected works, forming part of a collection that brings together architectural references from different parts of the world.



House in Sotogrande, located in front of the Sotogrande golf course, is defined by a cantilevered roof that creates a continuous shaded space between the ground and the ceiling. The project seeks to minimise its impact on the surroundings, proposing a way of living between two planes and encouraging the experience of something as simple as an inhabited shadow in Sotogrande.
ArchDaily is one of the most influential architecture platforms internationally. Founded in 2008, it has become a leading reference for architecture professionals worldwide. Its main aim is to disseminate projects, ideas and debates around architecture, design and the city.
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Mas Cadalt in Tendencias Diseño magazine
Mas Cadalt in Tendencias Diseño magazine
19/01/2026
Tendencias Diseño, a Valencia-based magazine focused on architecture, interior design and design culture, features Mas Cadalt in its latest winter issue.
Tendencias Diseño has established itself as a reference publication within the Spanish architectural scene, highlighting contemporary projects and innovative approaches that explore new visual languages and ways of understanding architectural practice.
The article addresses the rehabilitation of a traditional farmhouse transformed into a contemporary villa through a minimal and precise intervention. The project preserves the original volumetry and typology, reinterpreting tradition to meet present-day needs without losing its identity.
The villa is conceived as a serene space, closely connected to the landscape, light and self-sufficiency. Architecture and design come together in a home that balances traditional materials with contemporary solutions, proposing a new way of living.

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