Trenchs Studio designs a holiday home for a renowned Cantabrian chef and his family

In the small Cantabrian village of Lamadrid, Trenchs Studio has designed a home that seems to have emerged naturally from the land itself. Residencia PQ is the summer retreat of a renowned Cantabrian chef and his family—a house conceived as both refuge and gathering place, where architecture, interior design and landscape engage in a silent dialogue that shapes this singular project.

Under the creative direction of Ricard Trenchs, and in collaboration with 2S Gestión, the design achieves a seamless integration of the house within a setting of strong character and appeal: a hamlet of traditional stone houses with tiled roofs, surrounded by lush meadows and silos that embody the spirit of Cantabria’s rural scenery.

With around 400 m² distributed across two levels, the house is set on a hillside descending towards the estuary of San Vicente de la Barquera. The lower floor is partially embedded in the terrain, allowing the house to appear from the outside as a single, discreet and balanced volume. Its simple form, lime plaster façade and roof of reclaimed tiles allow the dwelling to converse with the local architecture, reinterpreting its vernacular language through a contemporary lens.

Architecture for inhabiting the landscape

The house unfolds around the site’s exceptional views: the Cantabrian Sea to the north and the Picos de Europa mountains to the south. At its heart, a spacious living and dining area opens onto the landscape through large windows and porches oriented towards the sun and sheltered from the wind. On one side lie the kitchen and study; on the other, the main bedrooms, while the lower floor houses the children’s rooms and a family living area that extends out to the garden.

The centerpiece of the house is the built-in fireplace, which organizes the space and accentuates the slope of the oak roof—visible as both a structural gesture and a warm material presence. Everything has been conceived to look out onto and inhabit the landscape: each room is immersed in the surrounding views, which evolve with the passage of time and the changing seasons.

Warm and natural interior design

The interior design, developed by the Trenchs Studio team, seeks a serene and welcoming atmosphere where rustic and contemporary elements coexist naturally. Beige stucco and tadelakt walls, bush-hammered stone floors and natural oak planks create a harmonious chromatic foundation upon which light and furniture quietly stand out. The gabled roof, with its wooden structure and beams brushed with beige limewash, completes this choreography—typical of Ricard Trenchs’ creative vision, which champions a timeless and honest style. Spaces are shaped by the nobility of materials, where every texture breathes coherence and the measured play of light reinforces the calm that permeates every room.

A serene retreat

At Residencia PQ, every architectural and design decision is guided by respect for the surroundings and by a desire to offer a domestic experience of serenity. It is a home where design is understood as a value of coherence and wellbeing, and where the landscape is not merely observed but becomes an essential part of those who inhabit it.

Project: Residencia PQ.

Location: Lamadrid (Cantabria).
Built area: 390 m2.

Completion: 2024.

Creative direction: Ricard Trenchs.

Project lead: Mariona Guàrdia.

Collaborators: Roser Ribas.

Construction: 2SGestión.
Photography: Enric Badrinas.
Source: Trenchs Studio.

Ricard Trenchs

Ricard Trenchs, an architect trained at the School of Architecture of Vallès at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, is the founder of Trenchs Studio. His work stands out for its strategic and sensitive approach to design, understood as an integral process where aesthetics, functionality, and conceptual coherence converge toward a common purpose.

Trenchs developed a long professional career alongside interior designer Sandra Tarruella, one of the most influential figures in contemporary Spanish interior design. For over a decade, he led her project department, and later they jointly founded Tarruella Trenchs Studio, where they consolidated a methodology combining technical precision, spatial narrative, and a deep attention to detail. That period was decisive for his professional growth and laid the foundation for his current understanding of design — a reflective, collaborative practice always oriented toward the user experience.

In 2020, Ricard founded Trenchs Studio, from where he continues to develop interior design and creative direction projects for brands and companies with international reach. “We understand the passion for design as a holistic process and a global vision of the result,” he explains. “We create a creative strategy aligned with the business concept so that every element forming part of the experience follows those guidelines and gives meaning to the spaces.”

Both in public and domestic settings, Trenchs advocates for “a timeless, honest interior design that ages gracefully,  a contemporary design, though not avant-garde.”

Today, Trenchs Studio continues to strengthen its identity as a practice that unites strategy, sensitivity, and coherence, capable of transforming public and private spaces into environments that are functional, warm, and emotionally balanced.

Project by Ricard Trenchs