This Kresta Design Project Reinvents Historic Homes With a Contemporary Perspective

Explore the Design Studio’s Rural Guesthouse from Villalba de los Barros

Project:
Rural Guesthouse
Architects:
Kresta Design:
Cristina Domínguez Lucas and Fernando Hernández-Gil
Location:
Villalba de los Barros, Spain
Photography:
José Hevia, Courtesy of Kresta Design
Words:
Erica Nichols

Some of the most impressive designs are those that add the most minute touches to an existing space. Architecture and design studio Kresta Design does what most studios veer away from: pay homage to tradition. Made up of architects Cristina Domínguez Lucas and Fernando Hernández-Gil, the studio takes on projects that invoke a sense of curiosity and challenge, often selecting buildings rich with history and character—much like the Rural Guesthouse, in Villalba de los Barros.

A small town located south of Extremaura, Viillalba de los Barros sets the scene with a vast landscape steeped in natural earth tones and peaceful solitude. Tucked in the town and washed in white sits the Rural Guesthouse—an eighteenth-century residence where the duo created a masterful design that respects the original architecture and speaks to a more contemporary perspective.

The difference is that instead of converting the home into a more mainstream and modern space, the team conscientiously preserved the building’s unique character, while subtly weaving in their own design voice. The foundation of the home remains the same, with three load-bearing wall bays and a grand vault on the ground floor, which creates new access to the yard and rooms of the rest of the space. The decision offers a bounty of natural light, drawing attention to eye-catching details like the baked-clay floor—which had been reinterpreted from local potters once the original floor couldn’t be restored. New doors, windows, and friars sit proudly among original woodwork. Subtle contemporary design choices were implemented in the floor layout. With Kresta Design, no detail was overlooked, no opportunity to restore the home’s original beauty was passed. As a result, the Rural Guesthouse stands beautifully with one foot in the past and one foot in the future.