Design Narrative

Fusing cutting edge technology with sustainable elements to create a variety of diverse living environments, has enabled Ventura and Partners to retain a standout design edge. Manuel Ventura, founder and CEO architect explains why

What’s Ventura and Partners ethos?

Combining solid experience with innovation and constant research, we are committed to finding sustainable and integrated solutions through strategic planning. Our mission is to improve people’s lives through architecture by allowing meaningful interactions between them and the space that surrounds them. Providing the optimum solution is our focus.

Tell us about the different kinds of projects you’ve worked on

The beginning of my career was closely connected to urbanism and urban design projects. At the same time, I also designed small residential buildings and some interventions in commercial spaces. Over the years, my knowledge and area of expertise has expanded to other thematic segments, such as hospitality, health industry, urban design and infrastructure. Today, our office has projects of varying scales, from urban planning for territories of considerable sizes to object design, and we cover almost any kind of programme. I have developed the ability to mentally manage several realities simultaneously over the years and it allows me to generate ideas and design several things at the same time. This approach, which is somewhat of a lifestyle choice, feeds my creative process. Obviously, teamwork in an organised studio, currently with about 140 employees, is fundamental to create the conditions for creative and technical development.

What sets you apart from other architectural practices?

Initially, I believed there were universal methods for developing projects for the long-term. However, overtime I have come to the realisation that was not the case. I prioritise, from a very early stage of project development, the creation of a geometric and rigorous matrix, through which the whole project is structured and organised. At the same time, our projects always try to highlight the characteristics of the territory in which they will be implanted, usually by constructive integration, other times by creating controlled ruptures. We focus on deciding which approach is the best fit for the given territory and its contexts. Our projects also aim to be meticulously developed, in order to solve the programmes in question in the best way possible. This means a huge commitment to the client’s purpose, the constructive techniques, the norms that regulate the construction, and the economy of the same. Above all, we never forget that the architecture and the spaces we design must serve those who use them, while always seeking the emotion that arises in those who have the sensibility to appreciate the quality of the spaces they experience.

How do you incorporate sustainable elements into your designs?

Sustainability is the balance we manage between all the factors that involve the architectural creation of any construction. In our case, it has always been at the core of our activity. When we look at the set of our works, I think it’s possible to realise that there is a response matrix, and that in this matrix, a sustainable balance has always been present. We always make our buildings reflect the result of the balanced combination between all the aspects that are part of the process, from the client’s objectives, the construction techniques used, to the scrupulous fulfilment of the given budgets. We believe that our projects should deliver a complete environmental model, with outstanding ambitions in all environmental, health, and well-being issues. The well-being effect promoted by the built unit is a priority, as it will have a direct and positive impact on the inhabitants/users and their way of relating to their surroundings. We cannot stop looking at architecture as a complex set of parameters in which the balanced response to all of them is, in itself, the best sustainable response we can create for a determined building.

What’s next for Ventura and Partners?

I have many ideas. I would like to continue developing quality projects that communicate with people, contribute to improving lifestyles and the cities where they are located, always creating meaningful interactions between them and their surrounding space.

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