A house for piano and violin: A project by Endalt Arquitectes and Josep Eixerés that integrates family and professional life

When in 2020 the pianist Aida and the violinist Fernando came to Endalt Arquitectes as owners of a plot in the historic centre of Alcàsser, what they sought was a house capable of integrating family life and musical practice into a single space: rehearsal, teaching and production. The plot included a small dwelling from 1930 whose condition and dimensions made it impossible to respond to that programme. The decision to demolish it was not easy; however, the architects at Endalt decided to explore how contemporary architecture can draw on the principles of traditional architecture: «Perhaps what we must preserve is not the built object, but the knowledge that underpins it: its relationship with the territory, the use of resources, the techniques passed down through generations.» the architects comment. From that principle comes an architecture that reinterprets, from the present, the vernacular typology of the dwellings of the place.

The recovery of constructive systems —jack arch floors, pitched roofs with wooden joists— was significant, but the key to the project lay in understanding the relationship between the spaces for domestic life and for music. In the original dwelling, as in so many others, the pallisa housed the animals and the andana stored the harvest. This duality now finds a contemporary equivalent: a ground-floor studio dedicated to musical practice, with exterior access for students, without interfering with domestic privacy; and on the top floor, a space dedicated to the piano, built with wooden floors to enhance acoustic quality and visually open towards the courtyard.

The plot, irregular and without right angles, imposed its geometry on the project. The studio took it as a working condition: the main rooms —bedrooms, living room, kitchen— absorb the necessary orthogonality, while the irregularity shifts towards the circulation spaces and, above all, towards the central courtyard.

The courtyard, heart of the house

The courtyard is conceived as a reinterpretation of the street: a heterogeneous, geometrically complex space, built with raw and local materials —rasilla, glazed ceramics, traditional lime renders— that engage with the surroundings from their own identity. The section works over this void with a sequence of double heights, flat and pitched roofs, terraces and balconies that manage light and connect each floor with the exterior. On the ground floor, the living room, dining room and kitchen open onto the courtyard through large sliding doors; on the first floor, the balcony of the main bedroom introduces an echo of the street into the interior; the upper terrace, connected to the piano space, adjusts the proportion of the courtyard and encourages the entry of overhead light.

From the first visit in 2020 to the completion of the work in 2025, the lives of Aida and Fernando evolved —and with them the project. The house was gradually completed, corrected and adjusted over time, accepting that architecture is a reality in constant transformation.

Integration into the historic centre

Acting within a historic centre implies taking on a responsibility towards a fabric laden with memory, where every decision has an impact on the surroundings. The project opts for an attitude of quiet integration. It is built from traditional elements and a geometry that echoes the dwellings of the historic core of Alcàsser (Valencia). Its composition, deliberately simple, engages with the surrounding houses through scale, proportion and materiality.

Only one element introduces a slight dissonance: a hydraulic tile with blue motifs, incorporated as an intimate gesture that refers to the past of one of the clients. A minimal detail that, within the coherence of the whole, establishes a link between personal memory and collective memory.

Furniture

Kitchen table and stool by Caravasar Home. Kitchen lamps by Hannun. Living room sofa and armchairs by Noble Interiorismo. Entrance hydraulic tiles by La mar de lejos. Floor lamp and ceramic jug by La Mediterránea, design by Héctor Serrano.

Project: Casa per a piano i violí.
Location: Alcàsser, València.
Completion: 2025.
Architecture: Endalt Arquitectes + Josep Eixerés.
Built area: 220 m²
Photography: David Zarzoso.
Source: Endalt Arquitectes.

Endalt Arquitectes

Endalt Arquitectes is a studio founded in Valencia in 2017 by architects Carles Rosaleny Gamón and Marcel·lí Rosaleny Gamón, both graduates of the Universitat Politècnica de València. Their training opened early to international experiences — workshops at Central Saint Martins in London, the Vienna University of Technology, and the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana — which shaped a critical, interdisciplinary perspective attuned to what happens beyond their own territory.

The studio works at the intersection of architecture, graphic design and scenography, with proposals that seek contemporary responses without departing from the tradition or the cultural and constructive values of the place. Their architecture puts people at the centre: each project is built as a dialogue between client and team, grounded in principles of rationality, sustainability, respect for the environment and constructive honesty.

Over these years they have developed housing projects — with particular dedication to the rehabilitation of historic buildings — and urban planning projects at various scales for public administration. In all of them, sustainability operates as an integral concept encompassing environmental concerns, but also sociocultural and socioeconomic ones.

Their work has been published in specialised media such as Arquitectura Viva, AD España, Divisare, Azure, Archdaily, Afasia, Metalocus and Veredes, among others, and has received the recent architecture selection of the Colegio Territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia (CTAV) in 2020, 2021 and 2022. They are currently preparing the publication of the book Cases velles, vides noves. La Casa dels Estels, a finalist at the ADCV Awards 2026.

Marcel·lí Rosaleny Gamón

(Valencia, 1992). Architect from the ETSA of the Universitat Politècnica de València (2016) and Doctor in Architecture, Building, Urbanism and Landscape from the same university (2023), with a thesis on sustainability in the vernacular architecture of l’Horta and l’Albufera de València and its translation into contemporary practice, awarded Excellent Cum Laude. He furthered his training with a Master’s in Art Direction at the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC, 2020). In 2021 he wrote and directed the documentary La innovación dentro de casa, premiered at the Mugak International Architecture Biennial of the Basque Country. He participates regularly in international conferences and publishes research on the role of vernacular architecture in the face of the challenges of forced degrowth. He is a lecturer in the Department of Architectural Graphic Expression at the ETSA-UPV.

Carles Rosaleny Gamón

(Valencia, 1992). Architect from the ETSA of the Universitat Politècnica de València (2016) and Editorial Designer from the Escola Superior de Disseny de València (2025). He is currently pursuing his doctorate in Architecture, Building, Heritage and City, with research into architecture catalogues and their contribution to the dissemination and legacy of architectural culture. In the field of graphic design he has collaborated with publishers, local councils and cultural organisations, receiving recognition including the Premios Mestre Ortifus (2019) and participation in the World Design Capital València 2022 programme. His editorial design for the book Cases velles, vides noves is a finalist at the ADCV Awards 2026. He is an associate lecturer in the Department of Architectural Graphic Expression at the ETSA-UPV.

Project by Endalt Arquitectes