A plywood-lined corridor at Casa Iriarte draws the eye towards a light-filled living area, where a buttoned leather armchair and footstool sit on a Persian rug. Sliding glazing opens to a courtyard with metal café furniture, and a yellow-framed element edges the view.

Casa Iriarte by SOCO Estudio Reworks a Narrow Las Palmas Plot Into an Adaptable Concrete Home

Words by Eric David

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain

At first glance, the starkly industrial, DIY-inflected look of Casa Iriarte seems out of place on its street in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, its board-formed concrete façade standing out against its vibrantly painted neighbours. Yet what initially reads as a rupture is, in fact, a continuation: a contemporary translation of Las Palmas’ long-standing culture of DIY urbanism. Designed by local practice SOCO Estudio, the three-storey house draws on the city’s tradition of casa terrera dwellings, narrow, self-built homes that evolved over time through pragmatic additions and adjustments. Filtering that vernacular through its own design language, the studio has produced a modern, adaptable home attuned to the lives of its owners as much as to the island’s climate, culture and material realities.

Casa Iriarte seen along its narrow Las Palmas de Gran Canaria street, its board-marked concrete façade set among painted terrace houses. A restored ochre-red townhouse with arched windows and a balustraded balcony stands alongside, placing the raw new build in quiet dialogue with the neighbourhood's older domestic fabric.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

The board-marked concrete street façade of Casa Iriarte stands between vibrantly painted neighbours in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Recessed openings, sliding panels and slim mesh balustrades give the three-storey house a spare, quietly industrial presence, its ground floor set back to form a sheltered entrance.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

Built on a narrow, elongated plot typical of Las Palmas’ historic centre, the house reworks the conventional layout of Gran Canaria’s traditional homes. Instead of placing the patio at the centre, SOCO Estudio shifts it towards the rear, allowing the staircase to occupy the depth of the plan as a vertical spine. This move allows each floor to be configured as a sequence of open, loosely defined rooms, notably without formal divisions such as doors, so that functions can overlap, expand or recede as needed.

The ground floor houses an open-plan studio that gathers workspace, lounge and utility areas together. On the first floor, the kitchen and dining area face the street while the living room looks onto the patio at the back, opening onto a balcony that descends to the courtyard below by way of a spiral staircase. The private quarters occupy the floor above. Throughout, the fluid configuration keeps domestic life programmatically loose while drawing daylight deep into the narrow floorplan, aided by floor-to-ceiling glazing and a skylight above the stairwell. The same logic extends upwards to the roof terrace, or azotea, a traditional feature of Canarian domestic life used for work, leisure and gathering.

The rear courtyard of Casa Iriarte, where a butter-yellow steel spiral staircase and mesh-railed balcony climb the raw concrete and weathered plaster walls. A recessed ground-floor doorway, a lone watering can and a fern soften the pared-back, workshop-like character of this outdoor room in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A plywood-lined corridor at Casa Iriarte draws the eye towards a light-filled living area, where a buttoned leather armchair and footstool sit on a Persian rug. Sliding glazing opens to a courtyard with metal café furniture, and a yellow-framed element edges the view.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A view from the living room at Casa Iriarte through full-height sliding glazing to a balcony overlooking a walled courtyard. A slender tripod floor lamp stands against textured plaster walls. Butter-yellow mesh railings and green glass demijohns punctuate the concrete-paved balcony beyond.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A threshold at Casa Iriarte where a sliding glazed wall opens the concrete-block living room onto the rear courtyard. A tan Chesterfield sits beside a wheeled wire-mesh cabinet, while a butter-yellow grille guard and weathered plaster wall mark the boundary between interior and open air.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A living area at Casa Iriarte where concrete-block walls meet polished cement underfoot. A black leather cantilever chair and a tan Chesterfield sofa flank a plywood volume, with framed prints propped at floor level and a stair beyond leading up towards a sunlit dining space.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A plywood-clad volume meets exposed concrete-block at Casa Iriarte, its board-marked ceiling overhead. A black leather cantilever chair and matching plywood chest sit beside a slim butter-yellow handrail, while galvanised diamond-plate treads rise towards a sunlit dining room framed by sheer curtains.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A living area at Casa Iriarte framed by concrete-block walls and plywood joinery, where a black leather-and-chrome Wassily-style chair sits on a worn Persian rug. Beyond, a diamond-plate stair and butter-yellow handrail lead up to a dining area lit by a spherical paper lantern.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • The first-floor kitchen at Casa Iriarte pairs a stainless-steel counter and open shelving with a raw concrete-block wall. Floor-to-ceiling glazing opens to a wrought-iron balcony and a pastel townhouse opposite, while an oversized paper lantern hangs above a timber dining table and bentwood chairs.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A close view of the kitchen's stainless-steel table at Casa Iriarte, set against a grey concrete-block wall hung with a glossy yellow ring vase. Coffee makers, a kettle and potted greenery cluster on the counter, while a full-height sheer curtain filters daylight across the polished cement floor.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A dining corner at Casa Iriarte layers concrete-block, exposed plywood panelling and polished cement underfoot. A stainless-steel trolley holds crockery and small appliances beside a white metal cabinet, while a spherical paper lantern and sheer curtain soften the light above a warm timber table.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • An entrance threshold at Casa Iriarte where exposed concrete beams and grey volcanic-block walls frame a plywood-lined passage and polished cement floor. A silver curtain, visible conduit and leaning framed print heighten the improvised, industrial mood, while a patterned rug and warm timber panels soften the raw material palette.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

This spatial openness is matched by an equally direct material language. The exposed concrete skeleton, cement floors and concrete-block walls set a raw, industrial tone, picked up by visible cable conduits and a run of metallic elements: a stainless-steel kitchen, modular shelving and garment rails, galvanised-steel grid balustrades and diamond-plate treads. Plywood surfaces lean further into the scheme’s DIY aesthetic while injecting warmth, their pale grain offsetting the cool greys of the structure. Against this restrained palette, the butter-yellow handrails and matching patio stair and balcony structure supply the only real burst of colour in an otherwise greyscale scheme.

  • A close study at Casa Iriarte of a butter-yellow tubular handrail zig-zagging across the join between pale plywood and dark concrete block. The crisp shadow and the meeting of warm timber and cool grey distil the material contrasts and playful colour that run throughout the house.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A detail at Casa Iriarte where a butter-yellow handrail threads through two galvanised wire-mesh balustrade panels against a plywood-panelled wall. The welded steel uprights, mesh infill and painted tube reveal the frankly industrial, off-the-shelf language SOCO Estudio deploys throughout the interior.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A close study at Casa Iriarte of galvanised diamond-plate stair treads meeting a raw concrete flight and a pale plywood wall. The tactile contrast of pressed metal, board-marked concrete and warm timber distils the house's make-do palette in a single junction.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • A detail at Casa Iriarte where pale plywood panelling meets a grey concrete-block wall. A disc-shaped opal wall light and a slim butter-yellow handrail trace the junction, while concrete steps and a coir mat lead towards the raw block beyond, distilling the material contrast at the heart of the house.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • The central stair of Casa Iriarte rises through the depth of the plan, its cast-concrete flights edged by galvanised wire-mesh balustrades and butter-yellow handrails. Board-marked concrete and grey block frame the shaft, while plywood joinery and a glimpsed bed mark the sleeping quarters alongside.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

  • An upper-floor passage at Casa Iriarte runs between full-height plywood joinery and a galvanised wire-mesh balustrade topped by a butter-yellow handrail. The route opens to a spare bedroom with a simple timber bed and an exposed metal clothing rail, the concrete stair descending alongside.

    Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A bathroom at Casa Iriarte sets a dark volcanic-block wall against a wall of small white tiles. A brushed-steel wall-mounted basin, exposed trap and rainfall shower keep the fittings frankly utilitarian, while a slim mirror and plywood edge lend the compact, light-filled space a quiet warmth.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A bedroom at Casa Iriarte framed by dark concrete-block walls and a board-marked concrete ceiling. A white-tiled walk-in shower sits behind a pivoting partition, while a mesh-panelled balustrade and butter-yellow handrail edge the stair void, with a children's play area glimpsed beyond.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

The ground floor studio at Casa Iriarte looks through full-height sliding glazing onto the rear courtyard, where a butter-yellow spiral staircase twists up against weathered plaster walls. Inside, a galvanised-steel shelving unit lined with books meets a low timber table, banana plants softening the concrete beyond.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

That restraint is also where the project’s environmental thinking sits. SOCO Estudio built largely with what the island readily supplies, including walls of local volcanic block, or picón, deeply rooted in Canarian construction, and organised the house according to the lifespan of its parts. The concrete structure forms the enduring support, intended to last a century or more, while timber partitions, carpentry and demountable façade layers are designed to be easily swapped out and renewed as the decades pass. On an island where most materials arrive by sea, that economy of means is its own form of good sense, and Casa Iriarte wears it lightly, a house content to be exactly as much as it needs to be.

A close view at Casa Iriarte of the butter-yellow steel structure supporting the courtyard balcony, its diamond-plate underside and welded column meeting a board-marked concrete beam. The crisp yellow against raw grey concrete captures the interplay of frank engineering and playful colour that defines the house

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A close view of the roof terrace at Casa Iriarte, where board-marked concrete meets a rough-rendered parapet and a slim-framed glazed door. The muted palette of grey block, bare concrete and pale render captures the house's spare, unaffected character against the Las Palmas skyline.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A close-up of Casa Iriarte’s façade by SOCO Estudio reveals its direct material language: rough concrete, textured volcanic aggregate and a riveted metal door framing a large window. Behind the glass, warm plywood panelling and white bathroom tiles soften the industrial exterior, hinting at the home’s layered interior.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.

A dusk view at Casa Iriarte where warm light gathers around a plywood-clad volume set against concrete-block walls. A black leather cantilever chair and plywood chest sit beside diamond-plate steps, while a glowing paper lantern picks out the dining table in the raised room beyond.

Photography by Simone Marcolin.