David Chipperfield likes to pick fresh flowers from the garden before breakfast. It’s not yet ten in the morning, and the renowned British architect has already taken care to remove the dry leaves from the small pond next to the magnolia tree, and heads up the stairs to the terrace of Casa RIA’s cantina – the kitchen and cafeteria area – looking for the Sargadelos porcelain vase in which to place the bouquet of camellias still damp with the morning dew. Waiting for him at the stove is his friend and collaborator, chef Iago Pazos, who has just arrived from the Mercado de Abastos loaded down with fresh produce to prepare the daily menu.
“In Galicia, food is a kind of metaphor: it is very modest and an extreme example of sustainable production,” explains the Pritzker Prize laureate from the headquarters of his foundation in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. “The culture is deeply rooted in seasonal produce. We’re very lucky to have Iago and his team because they’re deeply committed to the idea of cooking with local ingredients.”
A key public space for the foundation
A year ago, the RIA Foundation – created by the architect in 2017 with the aim of promoting more sustainable development in Galicia – found the perfect location to set up shop in the centre of Santiago. The building of a former sanatorium, three minutes from the Mercado de Abastos, at number 6 on Virxe de Cerca Street, became Casa RIA, a nerve centre from which the Foundation and the architecture studio operate. “Simply locating the studio wasn’t enough; we felt we needed a public space to host exhibitions and conferences, which is why we decided to seize the opportunity this location offered.”
Renovated unsuccessfully in the late 1990s, the building had lost its original value, so one of the challenges the architecture studio faced was to recreate it, but also to design it according to new needs. “A house is a home if it has life, so you need those elements that bring it to life. Architecture is merely the setting that holds memories, and we must find that balance between history and memories, between meaning and progress,” notes the architect, who grew up on a farm in Devon, England.
One of the key considerations in planning the building’s layout was the location of the kitchen and the cafeteria. “It’s a fundamental space for the Foundation. We all gather here; people come to have coffee in the morning or to have lunch, and also to participate in the activities we organise.” A prime example of this is the exhibition “Design for Living: Material, Process, and Everyday Objects,” which winds through Casa RIA from the ground floor of the building up the central staircase to the upper floors, where the offices and main reception areas are located.
Design According to Chipperfield
On until June 30, the exhibition features furniture and everyday objects designed by David Chipperfield throughout his career, such as kitchen utensils, which are undisputed stars within the context of the Foundation and its work across the region. “The kitchen and dining room are probably the heart of domestic life,” he states. Although David Chipperfield does not consider himself a designer, he has always valued how design enriches our daily rituals, and it is precisely this that has sometimes led him to create objects that enhance his everyday experiences. Like that porcelain tableware set he designed for Alessi over 20 years ago. It all began with his early work as an architect in Japan, when he designed several stores for Issey Miyake. “I spent a lot of time there and loved how the food was presented – in bowls rather than on plates. When I returned, I couldn’t find anything like it, so I decided to design it myself,” he recounts as he accompanies us, along with his daughter Celeste, on a tour of the exhibition.
A set of Moka coffee pots, also created for Alessi in 2019, sits on one of the shelves in front of the pantry. “Alberto Alessi asked me to design a new coffee maker as a tribute to the original Bialetti model, of which his grandfather had been a partner,” the architect explains. “So he encouraged me to create something innovative and different. I considered many different ideas, but I must admit that I returned to the original for several reasons; among others, because of my metaphorical concept of design: I believe that things must have meaning. I have a somewhat traditional background, in the Bauhaus style, where objects can have certain physical qualities, can be innovative, and, at the same time, serve a primary function as tools in our daily lives,” explains Chipperfield.
A philosophy of life
In an equally everyday and spontaneous way, the RIA Foundation emerged nine years ago on Corrubedo Beach, where the architect built his family home for summer vacations. It was there that his interest in the local gastronomic culture was born, leading him to run his own bar alongside his daughter Celeste. Since then, the Foundation has promoted local projects, particularly on the Barbanza Peninsula, on the northern coast of the Arousa estuary, with the aim of studying the community’s needs, the built environment, and its relationship with the natural context – and, to some extent, with the economy. “These things go hand in hand. We had to ensure it had an independent character, that it didn’t represent any authority. We have no political or financial interests,” he says.
That is why it was so important to move everything to Santiago and create a hub capable of integrating both the Foundation’s work and that of the architecture studio under the umbrella of Casa RIA. “We want it to feel familiar and, of course, as architects, we also want the space to be perceived as a special place. I believe in this idea of trying to play with what’s there and making what surrounds us more perceptible. That is, to a large extent, our design philosophy,” he explains. And that is precisely what visitors sense as they wander through the rooms of this safe environment. Casa RIA is perceived as a philosophy of life, where the elements that make it up give meaning to the whole: the vegetable garden, the garden, and the cantina. Everything revolves around the land and the produce.
“During the pandemic, my wife Evelyn and I would go for walks and realised that on the Barbanza peninsula, almost every house had an orange tree in its garden. It seemed very strange to us that there were so many in a northern climate,” says Chipperfield. “Later, we discovered that in the ’60s and ’70s, people planted them for decorative purposes. Now they’re trees that are six meters tall, and each one yields 100 kilos of oranges that weren’t being used.”
So, with a small team, they decided to get to work and figure out how they could make use of those oranges if they bought them from private individuals. “I think it’s a very beautiful story. It’s extremely sustainable, because the oranges are already there. It’s very organic, because no one uses pesticides or anything like that on a single orange tree.”
The meaning behind things
That’s how the idea to make orange marmalade began. And that’s how the idea arose to label it “Naranja Gallega,” always referencing the land of its origin and emphasising the Galicia brand. “We experimented for a long time, and we think the result is really good,” David and Evelyn tell us proudly.
After all, one of the Foundation’s main objectives is to consider the relationship between the natural environment, the built environment, and the community, and Chipperfield expresses concern about the major challenge facing young people in Galicia: “The land is no longer worked as it used to be. I think that looking ahead, we need to innovate a bit and think about how food can become more appealing to new generations. Galicia is an excellent example of responsible production. This isn’t about gastronomy or haute cuisine. Honestly, I’m a bit against sophisticated food. Here, they know how to judge a good product because they have it, but at the same time, we can’t always settle into nostalgia for the things we’ve known; rather, we have to create memories of the new as well. I feel that for the first time, the concept of progress is being questioned. That’s why, in our rush to create new things, we shouldn’t forget to create things with meaning.”
