Casa Ibiza: a contemporary reinterpretation of Ibizan architecture

In the interior of Ibiza, far from the intensity of the coastline, this house designed by architect Rolf Blakstad and interior designer Toni Espuch unfolds as a place of pause — a refuge where time seems to acquire another density and everyday life slows to a quieter rhythm.

The owners — a couple of entrepreneurs seeking a more serene relationship with the landscape — envisioned a house that would evoke the tradition of Ibizan architecture while being conceived for contemporary living. The project begins with that initial intuition: to recover the essence of the island’s vernacular buildings and reinterpret them through a contemporary sensibility. The result is an architecture of white, clear and compact volumes that interlace around the garden and the swimming pool. The house is organised across two levels, connected through a restrained and essential material palette: wood, stone, lime and concrete. Primary elements that shape a quiet atmosphere in which Mediterranean light takes on a central role.

A large window opening to the landscape acts as the axis of the house, establishing a continuous line between interior and surroundings and guiding the spatial sequence. From this point, the domestic spaces unfold naturally.

A generous open space brings together the living area, dining room and kitchen within a single spatial sequence. Large openings dissolve the boundaries between interior and exterior, allowing the garden, vegetation and the water of the pool to become an active presence within the house.

Within this central space, Espuch’s interior design introduces his distinctive language: a deliberate coexistence of times, materials and origins. Antique pieces converse with contemporary furniture and handcrafted objects. Two polychrome capitals from the 13th century, French chestnut tables from the 19th century and an 18th-century Tuscan bench appear integrated within the domestic atmosphere as part of everyday life. 

The kitchen extends this same logic. Its design combines functionality with material sensitivity, where small gestures — blue and white tableware or handcrafted ceramics — bring a warm and human domestic character.

While the interior is structured through continuity, the porch represents the true heart of the house. Beneath a structure of wooden beams and natural cane, this intermediate space opens towards the pool and the garden. Here the architecture softens into a more relaxed atmosphere: a canopied Balinese daybed, informal tables, iron armchairs and reclaimed pieces shape a place designed for time to slow down.

The house continues its sequence towards the upper floor, where the main suite is located. Opening onto a large terrace, this space is conceived as a refuge within the refuge. The chromatic palette — whites, soft earth tones and natural linen textiles — maintains the serenity that permeates the entire house. The guest bedrooms complete the programme while preserving the same calm and luminous atmosphere.

In this house, architecture seeks to accompany the landscape. Matter, light and silence construct a measured relationship with the surroundings. Rather than offering a spectacular setting, the dwelling proposes something more difficult to achieve: a place where architecture becomes a way of inhabiting time.

Project: Casa Ibiza.
Location: Ibiza.
Architecture: Rolf Blakstad.
Interior design: Azul Tierra. Toni Espuch.
Photography: Pere Peris.
Source: Isa Rendé Comunicación.

Toni Espuch. Azul Tierra

Interior designer Toni Espuch has built, over more than three decades, a deeply personal creative universe in which interior design is understood as a way of telling stories through objects and spaces. Born in Alicante, he began his career at a very young age, driven by an early fascination with decoration, antiques and handcrafted pieces that preserve the memory of other times. This interest in the beauty of objects and in the value of time —the patina left by years on wood, iron or textiles— would shape the character of his work from the very beginning.

His training was largely self-taught and nourished by direct experience. For many years he travelled through numerous countries searching for furniture, textiles and singular pieces, an education that allowed him to develop a refined gaze towards material culture and the craft traditions of different parts of the world. This knowledge would become one of the pillars of his practice as an interior designer.

Espuch understands each project as a process deeply connected to the people who inhabit it. For him, interior design is not merely an aesthetic matter, but the construction of atmospheres that allow people to live surrounded by beauty and comfort. His spaces are characterised by the presence of antique pieces, noble materials and carefully selected furniture, combined with contemporary designs and custom-made elements.

This approach has given rise to a distinctive style where the memory of objects, the serenity of architecture and a Mediterranean sensibility coexist —one that privileges natural light, spatial openness and a sense of domestic calm.

Azul Tierra. Interior design, objects and material culture

Azul Tierra, the studio founded by Toni Espuch in 1994, is today one of the most recognisable names in contemporary Spanish interior design. Initially established in Alicante and later also in Barcelona, the project began as a shop and creative space dedicated to gathering furniture, textiles and objects from different parts of the world. Over time, it evolved into an interior design studio capable of developing both residential and contract projects.

From its origins, Azul Tierra has defined itself more as a sensory experience than as a conventional decoration firm. Within its spaces, European antiques, craft traditions from diverse cultures and contemporary designs coexist, creating compositions in which every object seems to hold its own story. This deliberate combination of times and origins is one of the most distinctive features of Espuch’s aesthetic universe.

Today the studio brings together a multidisciplinary team of interior designers, architects and designers working under Espuch’s direction. Their projects range from private homes to hotels, restaurants and commercial spaces.

Far from following the changing trends of the market, Azul Tierra is grounded in a more timeless vision of interior design, centred on the authenticity of materials, the cultural value of objects and the emotional relationship people establish with their spaces. In this sense, each project by the studio can be understood as a small living collection where architecture, furniture and art engage in dialogue to create a unique atmosphere. 

Project by Toni Espuch. Azul Tierra