Contemporary architecture overlooking the Ares Estuary

At the northern tip of the province of A Coruña, facing the entrance to the Ferrol Estuary and surrounded by the unspoiled landscape of Chanteiro, stands Casa de los Ingenieros, a historic residence that has reclaimed its place in the territory after more than a century of silence. Very close to the seafaring town of Ares and the picturesque village of Redes, the house emerges between sea and vegetation as a serene refuge, rich in memory.

Built in 1892 as the residence of the military engineers responsible for the defensive batteries of the estuary, the building had gradually been reduced to a powerful stone structure, stripped of its former presence. The current intervention recovers that legacy through a contemporary, sensitive, and precise approach, capable of restoring life to it without altering its essence.

The restoration highlights the tectonic strength of Galician granite and combines it with noble, natural materials, chosen for their authenticity and their ability to engage in dialogue with the Atlantic landscape. Among them, the iroko woodwork stands out—a timber with a maritime tradition, used in naval construction for its strength and durability against the oceanic climate. The material and chromatic palette echoes the surroundings: rock, vegetation, mist, and the changing light of the sea.

The project is structured around light as a constructive material. The generous original openings, reinterpreted with dark profiles, frame the exterior as though it were a sequence of living landscapes. The sea and the forest visually enter every room, establishing a constant relationship between interior and exterior. Atlantic light moves through the spaces and sets in motion a delicate dialogue between memory, calm, and contemporaneity.

Inside, the design embraces purity of line and an atmosphere of warm restraint. The carefully selected furnishings combine restored pieces with others of a more contemporary language, reinforcing a sense of balance, authenticity, and quiet. Every decision seems to respond to the desire to preserve the soul of the place while making it fully habitable in the present.

More than a restoration, Casa de los Ingenieros is an exercise in reconciliation between different times. An architecture that does not impose, but listens; that transforms ruin into permanence and history into lived experience. In this way, the house once again inhabits the landscape not as a vestige, but as a testament to how beauty, light, and material can become a form of memory.

This recovery also goes beyond the domestic sphere, helping to highlight the historical heritage of Chanteiro, an enclave that preserves discreet and singular treasures, such as the Church of La Merced, a 15th-century temple that forms part of the cultural identity of the place.