Ukrainian firm Makhno Studio turned an unfinished concrete structure in Valencia into ROCA, a residence that treats the surrounding cliffs as part of the building rather than scenery to look at from a window. Terracotta-colored volumes step between the rock formations on the site, and a screen of rotating wood louvers controls sun and privacy without blocking the view of the landscape the house was built to sit inside.
Terracotta volumes woven into the cliff
The studio inherited an unfinished concrete structure and rebuilt it as a cluster of terracotta-colored volumes that step down the site rather than sitting as one block. Cars park at ground level under a wood-slatted carport, and the living spaces climb above it toward the rock face, so the building reads as a sequence of smaller forms fitted into the terrain instead of a single house dropped onto a lot.
Where a volume meets the cliff, Makhno Studio lets the rock stay exposed rather than clearing it back. A retained boulder and an existing tree sit flush against the terracotta wall in more than one spot on the site, so the join between the built structure and the ground it stands on is never hidden.
A louvered screen borrowed from Valencian tradition
To manage the intense Valencian sun and shield the interior from a nearby road, the studio wrapped the residences in rotating wood louvers based on celosía corredera, a traditional local shading system the studio's own project notes describe as rarely used in contemporary construction. The panels turn independently, so residents can dial in exactly how much light and how much privacy a given room gets at a given hour.
Because the louvers move, the building's exterior is never fixed. The same wall reads as solid timber when the panels close and as an open screen with terracotta showing through when they rotate open, which turns the facade into something closer to an instrument the residents operate than a static surface.
A pool terrace cut into the rock
The upper terrace holds a plunge pool set directly against the exposed cliff face, with a terracotta deck that runs right up to the rock rather than stopping short of it. A round fire bowl and a low bench sit at the pool's edge, giving the terrace a place to gather that does not depend on the view alone to hold people's attention.
A second terrace, lower and more sheltered, pairs two low upholstered benches with a direct sightline down the valley. Both outdoor spaces use the same terracotta flooring as the building's exterior walls, so the ground and the architecture read as one continuous material rather than a house set on a separate paved surface.
Interiors in clay, wood and stone
Inside, the studio kept the material palette to clay-finished walls, aged wood and ceramic flooring, the same warm, earthy register the exterior uses. A living room built around a full-height wood bookshelf pairs a round stone-topped table with neutral upholstered seating, and floor-to-ceiling glazing keeps the cliff and the valley visible from the main gathering spaces rather than walling residents off from the landscape once they're indoors.
A second living area, one level down, adds a sculptural side table and a low round rug in front of a wide window, with the same shelving and clay wall finish carried through so the different levels of the house read as variations on one interior rather than separate design languages. An open staircase connects the two, lit mostly by a single skylight rather than fixtures.
Furnishings throughout lean sculptural rather than upholstered. A raw stone side table sits beside a boxy armchair near a window, and a textured stone bench with a small carved figure sits under an arched doorway, both pieces reading more like site-specific objects than furniture bought to fill a room.
Bedrooms and bathrooms kept quiet and dark
The bedrooms drop the material palette into darker tones: near-black walls, low platform beds and glazing that runs floor to ceiling on at least one side of the room. Where the living spaces stay bright enough to read every material in the room, the bedrooms hold most of that detail in shadow and let the one lit wall or window carry the space.
Bathrooms follow the same dark register, finished in the same clay tones as the rest of the house rather than switching to tile or stone in a different color. A wood-topped vanity with a rectangular ceramic basin sits against a terracotta wall in one of them, keeping the material story consistent from the entry all the way to the last room in the house.
ROCA is the work of Makhno Studio, a Kiev-based architecture and design practice founded by Serhii Makhno. The sketch below, from the studio's own project files, shows the idea in the form it started in: a rough elevation pinned against a dense black silhouette of the site's rock. More of the studio's work is on Makhno Studio's website.
