Villa 14, Finca Cortesín

Feng Shui facing the sea

Born in Seville on August 25, 1960, Valentín de Madariaga graduated from the Higher Technical School of Architecture in Madrid.

He has made more than 150 single-family homes for private clients, in addition to numerous multi-family housing developments for the most prestigious firms in the country, as well as golf courses, gardens, swimming pools, restaurants, renovations of unique buildings … Some of his works have been published in the most important magazines and books of the sector, besides being used for numerous advertising spots.

Passionate about contemporary art, he creates the MP collection of the Valentín de Madariaga y Oya Foundation, whose works are related to the environment and nature.

This relationship between art and architecture is based on the way they project. His versatility and experience when designing a home makes him adapt perfectly to the needs of the client. He defines himself as an architect using the simile of a tailor who makes a custom suit.

Thanks to the theories of the feng shui that he has been using for more than 15 years, all the designs of his houses arise in a natural way and with common sense, integrating perfectly in the environment where they will be built. Each site gives its own guidelines on how to transform it in order to build and achieve the necessary harmony and balance.

Its more personal architecture is a stimulus to the senses, an attraction that seduces you from the first moment with a perfect harmony between spaces, surroundings and people.

An architecture of refined forms adapted to the climate and culture of the region and the client, as we can see in this house.

Located on the coast of Casares, on a golf course with views of the sea and the mountains. In it the contemporary, the baroque and the millenary traditions of Andalusia and the Arab culture are merged, what the architect has baptized as techno-Arab. It is not a new chill out music, although its architectural intention is something similar: it aims to create an atmosphere of relaxation and recreation for holidays and weekends, a refuge point with a touch of fantasy, a subtle aroma of worlds exotic Although essentially timeless, it is the result of his travels around the world, and his application of the oriental principles of feng shui to each project.

The different cultural origins of this architectural cocktail are not distinguished at first sight. The white walls of the house, flat and unadorned, tell us about the abstract values ​​of geometry and surfaces delivered to the play of light and its reflections and shadows. But they are as typical of contemporary architecture as the whitewashed villages of Andalusia or of many works that can be seen in Tangier, Tunisia, India, Egypt, Mexico or California.

The use of elements such as the patio, the fountains or the hallway is also multicultural – although typical of the Andalusian climate.

Another point of attention is the use of domes at strategic points, reminiscent of adobe mosques in North Africa. It is a wonderful space. Everything that is dominated by a dome is much more welcoming. A positive energy is produced when you are inside.

We open the entrance door to the house and the first thing we see is the large hall, and a large spiral staircase that opens the way to the imposing view of the sea through large windows. It is this house dominated by high ceilings, and the large spaces with high-rise doors in white oak wood with a very particular design, of Mil Rayas, which, as the name itself indicates, are countless fine lines of random thickness worked on the wood … a true avant-garde engineering work.

All their houses are governed under the precepts of feng shui. Despite its esoteric connotations, feng shui represents the common sense of knowing how to live and put things in harmony.