{"id":263280,"date":"2025-10-09T16:08:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?page_id=263280"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:57:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:57:27","slug":"loop-homes-burjassot-martin-lejarraga-architecture-office-spain","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/loop-homes-burjassot-martin-lejarraga-architecture-office-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Meets History At A Spanish Student Residence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sheltering outdoor furniture by Spanish designers Joan Gaspar and Josep Llusc\u00e0, corrugated-steel sheets clad the walls and ceiling of a terrace on the ground floor\u2013mezzanine at Loop Homes Burjassot, a 221-room student residence hall in Spain by Mart\u00edn Lejarraga Architecture Office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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October 9, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Michael Snyder<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>David Frutos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Community Meets History At A Spanish Student Residence<\/h1>\n\n\n

Before Mart\u00edn Lejarraga Architecture Office<\/a> started work on Loop Homes Burjassot, a dignified block of student housing named for the Spanish town it serves, the plot where the resident hall now stands had been abandoned for a decade. An agricultural suburb of Valencia for most of its history, Burjassot had experienced radical urban change starting in the 1940\u2019s, when a cement company established a factory complex there. In the late \u201990\u2019s, the company moved away and donated its facilities and land to the city; around the same time, a new university campus reinvigorated the otherwise-sleepy town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rezoned in the early 2000\u2019s, the former factory site sprouted mid-rise apartment blocks and, on one lot, the beginnings of an office building, but the economic crisis of 2008 stopped construction in its tracks. The residential developments staggered forward\u2014\u201cThere have been thousands of housing projects across Spain that have gone through that process,\u201d notes architect Mart\u00edn Lejarraga, principal of his eponymous firm\u2014but the projected offices never progressed beyond the foundations, leaving nothing more than a three-story-deep concrete scar in the ground. Then, in 2022, the Madrid-based student-housing developer, RYA Residencias, acquired the plot as a raw footing for something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mart\u00edn Lejarraga Crafts Student Housing Inspired By Burjassot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Sheltering outdoor furniture by Spanish designers Joan Gaspar and Josep Llusc\u00e0, corrugated-steel sheets clad the walls and ceiling of a terrace on the ground floor\u2013mezzanine at Loop Homes Burjassot, a 221-room student residence hall in Spain by Mart\u00edn Lejarraga Architecture Office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the time RYA brought Lejarraga on board, the architect, who is based in the coastal city of Cartagena, had been rehabilitating preexisting structures for over three decades. \u201cCartagena has a very interesting built heritage, so our experience here has pushed us to reform and transform lots of structures,\u201d he explains. \u201cBefore \u2018reuse\u2019 and \u2018rehabilitation\u2019 became fashionable, it seemed interesting to me to give buildings new life.\u201d He first worked with RYA in 2012 on a proposal for campus accommodations. (Spanish universities seldom run their own residence halls; most are built and operated by for-profit developers like RYA.) The door to a long-term collaboration opened when the company decided to transition from managing to developing student housing, creating the Loop Homes brand of dormitories, which was inaugurated in 2019 with the transformation of two 19th-century palaces in Granada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before taking on the Burjassot project, \u201cWe carefully analyzed all the elements that had been built\u2014retaining walls, foundations, slabs, pillars,\u201d Lejarraga reports. \u201cSince it was all belowground it hadn\u2019t suffered any deterioration.\u201d Working within the same volume projected for the original office, Lejarraga designed a 13-level slab building around the existing structural elements, \u201cgrowing the columns from the bottom up.\u201d From there, the planning of a 120,000-square-foot, 221-room residence hall turned on the dictates of real-estate economics. \u201cLike any developer, RYA was looking to get as much as possible out of the building, which meant looking for a balance between the private rooms and common areas,\u201d the architect continues. \u201cWe pushed the rooms to their limit\u2014they\u2019re a bit monastic, though they meet every need\u2014and so we tried to make the common areas ample, generous.\u201d The residence, in other words, replicates the European model of urbanism wherein occupants sacrifice the private realm in favor of accessible, high-quality public space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ample Public Spaces Encourage Community<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Rafa Garc\u00eda\u2019s Rew high-back sofas are installed back-to-back in the mezzanine commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spanning the top seven floors, student accommodations vary in typology\u2014from individual and double rooms to shared, accessible, and suite-style units\u2014but all of them compress a kitchenette, closet, and work area into built-ins along what Lejarraga terms \u201can active wall.\u201d The rooftop swimming pool serves as an urban beach, as attractive as any high-end hotel\u2019s, while on the double-height ground floor, common areas draw light and ventilation through tall banks of windows shaded by a graceful pergola connecting to the sidewalk and city outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inexpensive, durable materials also played an important role in suppressing costs and extending the building\u2019s lifespan. Corrugated steel the color of fired brick\u2014which, Lejarraga observes, \u201chas an industrial connotation connected to the memory of Burjassot\u201d\u2014appears as cladding inside and out, most notably on the ground-floor exterior and rising the full height of the blind lateral facades. Lacquered-steel paneling in the same color sheaths paired chimneylike volumes that run up both end walls\u2014a gesture toward an adjacent smokestack that also shifts the vertical circulation of plumbing, electrical, and extraction lines off the tight floor plates. Valencia\u2019s strong tradition of commercial ceramics provided a sustainable, low-cost solution for floors and walls in much of the interior. \u201cIn terms of service systems,\u201d Lejarraga adds, \u201cwe decided to leave them exposed to remove an additional, unnecessary layer of finishes and expense such that the building, overall, would be more direct, raw. You can see its guts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Details Nod To Industrial Roots<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"a
A steel spiral stair enlivens the double-height lobby, where Note\u2019s La Isla round sofa and Studio Inclass\u2019s Lan side tables stand on ceramic floor tile.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where budget-cutting exercises like these frequently lead to facilities that are blandly institutional and often inhospitable, here the use of industrial materials lends a strong sense of place and tactile warmth to both interior and exterior spaces. Thoughtful interventions throughout\u2014undulant, perforated sheet-metal ceilings that visually lift the otherwise low overhead in the hallways; a dramatic, steel-clad spiral staircase in the reception hall\u2014demonstrate an unusual degree of consideration for the lived experience of the building. Such measures, as Lejarraga points out, cost nothing while \u201coffering an element of attention.\u201d Construction may be expensive, but care is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
A steel pergola provides shade for a concrete ping-pong table on the adjacent sidewalk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Studio Faro Lab\u2019s Scuba pendant fixtures overlook the dining hall\u2019s eclectic collection of outdoor tables and chairs, also by Gaspar and Llusc\u00e0 as well as Fabrizio Batoni.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"a
On the end facades, smokestack forms sheathed in lacquered-steel panels house building systems, shifting them off the floor plates.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"a
A custom calisthenics park defines a small outdoor exercise area at one end of the building.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In a single room, the porthole above the bed admits daylight into the bathroom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A wavy, perforated-steel ceiling helps the under-8-foot corridor feel less oppressively low.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Each room includes a wall of compact built-in closets and other amenities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"a
In a double, bathroom wall tile celebrates the region\u2019s ceramics industry while connecting to the building\u2019s exterior color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
The gym occupies preexisting basement space, part of the foundations of an office building that was never completed, on which the residence hall now stands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
The small rooms are offset by generously proportioned public spaces, like this enclosed terrace off the lobby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Surrounded by Jos\u00e9 A. Gand\u00eda-Blasco Canales and Pablo Giron\u00e9s\u2019s 365 collection of chairs, chaise lounges, ottomans, and tables, the rooftop swimming pool is a veritable urban beach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT TEAM<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

MART\u00cdN LEJARRAGA ARCHITECTURE OFFICE:<\/strong> JOSE BOT\u00cd; F\u00c1TIMA SAAVEDRA; PEDRO JOS\u00c9 S\u00c1NCHEZ; GUILLERMO NARANJO; INMA CARRERA. PM ARQUITECTURA Y GESTI\u00d3N:<\/strong> CONSTRUCTION COST CONSULTANT. FLORENTINO REGALADO: <\/strong>STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. VALNU ENGINEERING SERVICES: <\/strong>LIGHTING CONSULTANT; MEP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRODUCT SOURCES\u00a0<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

FROM FRONT <\/strong>
RESOL: <\/strong>TABLES (TERRACE), CHAIRS (TERRACE, DINING HALL). OFITA:<\/strong> MODULAR SOFA, OTTOMAN (LOBBY). SANCAL:<\/strong> ROUND SOFA (LOBBY, COMMONS), HIGH-BACK SOFAS, OTTOMANS (COMMONS). FARO BARCELONA: <\/strong>PENDANT FIXTURES (LOBBY, DINING HALL). INCLASS: <\/strong>SIDE TABLES (LOBBY), TABLES (DINING HALL), DESK CHAIRS (DOUBLE ROOM). LEROY MERLIN: <\/strong>PING-PONG TABLE (PERGOLA). KENGURU PRO: <\/strong>CALISTHENICS PARK (WORKOUT AREA). ESCOFET: <\/strong>BENCHES (WORKOUT AREA), CUBES (POOL TERRACE). GANDIA BLASCO: <\/strong>CHAISE LOUNGES, CHAIRS, TABLES (POOL TERRACE). BODYTONE: <\/strong>EXERCISE EQUIPMENT (GYM).
THROUGHOUT<\/strong>
EUROPERFIL: <\/strong>STEEL PANELING. SAINT-GOBAIN WEBER: <\/strong>PLASTER. TITAN: <\/strong>PAINT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n