{"id":105601,"date":"2026-09-12T19:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/?p=105601"},"modified":"2026-09-12T19:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:40:10","slug":"casa-agullo-altea-ebba-benni-allan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/casa-agullo-altea-ebba-benni-allan\/","title":{"rendered":"Casa Agull\u00f3: a different way of living in the Mediterranean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allan<\/em> was born and raised in Spain to English parents. He later moved to London to study at UCL\u2019s Bartlett School of Architecture<\/em>, where he began developing a practice rooted in architecture, design and making. Today, he leads EBBA<\/strong><\/a>, the London-based architecture and design studio he founded in 2016.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Returning to Altea to work on Casa Agull\u00f3<\/em> meant intervening in a place he had known since childhood. Rather than completely transforming the house, the approach was to understand what was already there and decide what deserved to remain.<\/p>\n

A house that preserves its traces<\/h6>\n

Completed in 2022, the renovation began with a traditional house arranged vertically across three floors. EBBA<\/em> retained many of its original elements while introducing new pieces through a precise and deliberately restrained architectural language.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The history of the house remains visible. This is particularly true on the top floor, which once housed the former owner\u2019s workshop, where he built model boats. The space was opened up to make the most of the views and connect it to the large outdoor terrace, while the original concrete floor was left almost entirely intact. It even retains the paint marks accumulated over years of work.<\/p>\n

The idea of the workshop reappears in the kitchen. Designed as a large worktable, it serves simultaneously as a surface for cooking and preparing food, gathering and working. The gesture encapsulates much of Allan\u2019s<\/em> philosophy: spaces don’t need to be overly prescribed in order to function, and a single element can serve several purposes. Architecture can leave room for those who inhabit it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Materials sourced close to home<\/h6>\n

One of the most interesting aspects of Casa Agull\u00f3<\/em> in Altea lies in something that isn’t immediately visible. The project was developed with a strong awareness of its environmental impact, and all the materials used were sourced from within a 100-kilometre radius of the house.<\/p>\n

This decision introduces a logic of proximity that connects the project to its surroundings in a tangible way. It isn’t simply about preserving a fa\u00e7ade, using particular finishes or reproducing a Mediterranean aesthetic. The provenance of the materials is also taken into account, as they form an integral part of the architecture itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

EBBA\u2019s<\/em> work is consistently informed by this attention to material conditions and context. At Casa Agull\u00f3<\/em>, that philosophy finds particularly fertile ground. Allan<\/em> knows the climate, the light, the materials and the ways in which houses have traditionally been built in this part of the Mediterranean. The intervention therefore introduces contemporary solutions without erasing that accumulated knowledge.<\/p>\n

Living with less<\/h6>\n

There is also a personal decision behind the apparent simplicity of the interiors. Benni Allan<\/em> believes in living with fewer possessions, and that philosophy is reflected throughout the house.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The spaces are uncluttered, the materials have a strong presence, the furniture is sparse and carefully chosen, and the architecture doesn’t act as a neutral backdrop for a succession of decorative objects. It has enough character not to need them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stone, timber, concrete and continuous surfaces define the interiors. The restrained palette allows the textures and irregularities of the materials to become part of the everyday experience of the house.<\/p>\n

Mediterranean light does the rest. It enters rooms that retain a domestic scale before reaching a much more open upper floor. Here, the relationship with the outdoors takes centre stage.<\/p>\n

A house arranged across three levels<\/h6>\n

Casa Agull\u00f3<\/em> has three bedrooms and is now open to guests. Its layout follows the vertical structure characteristic of many houses in Altea\u2019s old town.<\/p>\n

On the ground floor, one of the bedrooms has its own en-suite bathroom, alongside the entrance dining hall and kitchen. At the rear, a small patio brings light and air into the interior.<\/p>\n

The first floor contains two double bedrooms and a shared bathroom. The latter has been conceived as a small sanctuary. Its stone floors take their cue from Altea\u2019s cobbled streets, bringing indoors a texture closely associated with the urban landscape surrounding the house.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The most significant transformation takes place upstairs. The former model-making workshop has become the living room. EBBA<\/em> opened the space towards the views and created a direct connection with the terrace. The floor once devoted to manual work is now the house\u2019s main communal space.<\/p>\n

Its new use doesn’t require the previous one to be erased. This coexistence between different moments in the life of the house is one of the project\u2019s greatest strengths.<\/p>\n

Altea without the clich\u00e9s<\/h6>\n

Working in such a recognisable Mediterranean setting presents an obvious risk. Altea has a powerful visual identity: white houses, narrow streets, stone, sea and vegetation. Its architecture has been reinterpreted countless times by hotels, restaurants and holiday homes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Casa Agull\u00f3<\/em>, however, avoids turning those codes into decoration. Its connection to place emerges through specific decisions: the use of local materials, the preservation of existing elements, the texture of the flooring, the relationship between indoors and outdoors, the way natural light is used and a terrace from which the surrounding geography once again becomes present.<\/p>\n

This approach is consistent with EBBA\u2019s<\/em> wider practice, in which architecture responds to the specific conditions of each project to develop functional, carefully crafted solutions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The studio works across different scales, encompassing architecture, interiors, pavilions, installations and objects. Its clients and collaborators include institutions such as the V&A Museum<\/em>, the Royal Academy of Arts<\/em> and the Venice Architecture Biennale<\/em>, alongside brands including Adidas<\/em>, Selfridges<\/em>, ASOS<\/em> and Cubitts<\/em>. The studio\u2019s work has received growing recognition in the UK, and Allan<\/em> was named Young Architect of the Year (2021)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Architecture, memory and continuity<\/h6>\n

Casa Agull\u00f3<\/em> offers an opportunity to understand this practice on a more intimate scale. Above all, because this isn’t simply a residential renovation. For Allan<\/em>, it represents a return to the place where he grew up and an opportunity to apply many of the ideas that have come to define his work. Knowledge of context therefore ceases to be an abstract professional tool and becomes part of a personal memory.<\/p>\n

This helps explain the importance of preserving the traces of the former workshop, the choice of locally sourced materials, the desire to intervene only where necessary and the decision to keep the interiors deliberately simple.<\/p>\n

Contemporary architecture appears here as a new layer within a story that began long before.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Casa Agull\u00f3<\/em> remains recognisable as a house in Altea while also reflecting a contemporary awareness of resources, the provenance of materials and the need to reconsider how much we really need in order to live well. This combination of memory, restraint and precision makes Benni Allan\u2019s<\/em> small personal project one of the best ways to understand the work of EBBA<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(*)<\/strong> Photography: Salva L\u00f3pez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allan was born and raised in Spain to English parents. He later moved to London to study at UCL\u2019s Bartlett School of Architecture, where he began developing a practice rooted in architecture, design and making. Today, he leads EBBA, the London-based architecture and design studio he founded in 2016. Returning to Altea to work on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":105574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5982,5986,5959],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-designs","category-interiors","category-architecture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCasa Agull\u00f3: a different way of living in the Mediterranean<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Casa Agull\u00f3 (Altea) is a renovation by Benni Allan (EBBA) shaped by local materials, Mediterranean light & a philosophy of living with less.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/casa-agullo-altea-ebba-benni-allan\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" 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