Redefining landscape: a new project in collaboration with BALZAR

Taming a landscape without stripping it of its essence. Ordering it without imposing. This is the challenge of our new project in La Moraleja (Madrid, Spain), where architecture and landscape do not function as separate elements but as a whole in constant dialogue. The plot, with its uneven topography, demands a precise exercise in which every intervention must fit as naturally as the centuries-old holm oaks that have settled in this territory.

In Madrid (Spain), a new project emerges, aiming to redefine the interaction between the built environment and the natural world. Our landscape studio, DSTUDIO, in collaboration with the renowned team of architects at BALZAR, embarks on a project spanning just over one hectare in La Moraleja.

The building seamlessly integrates into the terrain, adapting to its slopes and embracing the site’s conditions without altering its character. Its volumetric solidity contrasts with its delicate insertion into the topography, becoming a landmark within the landscape without disrupting it. Our landscape design does not seek to frame the architecture but to accompany it. The garden we are designing must emerge with the same subtlety as the stone rising naturally from the land.

The complexity of this project lies not only in transforming the space but in doing so without leaving a visible trace. We aim to create the sensation that the landscape has always been there, that our intervention is merely an imperceptible arrangement of preexisting elements. Designing in a way that ensures the landscape architect’s presence is just enough—so that nature itself appears to have made each decision. This balance between order and naturalness will be reflected in the creation of functional pathways in the most transited areas, ensuring a fluid connection with the architecture. In other areas, the experience will be more free-flowing, allowing the user to explore the garden without impositions, discovering strategically designed viewpoints that capture the best of the surroundings. We do not seek a garden to be traversed, but a landscape to be inhabited.

A GARDEN THAT TRANSFORMS

Seasonality will be key in this design. It is not just about preserving the essence of the landscape but about amplifying its moments of splendor. Each season will have its own highlights, its peaks of beauty where the garden will showcase its best version without resorting to artificial elements. Spring will burst forth with a carefully composed selection of strategic blooms; summer will provide shelter and freshness under the canopy of the holm oaks; autumn will reveal structures, textures, and ochres that enhance the depth of the landscape; and winter, with its apparent pause, will uncover the essence of volumes and the architecture of emptiness. The key will be to maximize these natural cycles without altering their rhythm, without forcing contrasts that do not exist in the original palette of the environment. It will be a garden that evolves without losing its identity, celebrating the passage of time rather than resisting it.

A SHARED VISION

The synergy between DSTUDIO and BALZAR is based on the pursuit of a common design philosophy. BALZAR, based in Valencia, stands out for its approach to creating unique architectural experiences, where simplicity and authenticity are fundamental pillars. Their architecture draws from tradition to reinvent its principles and look toward the future, creating elemental forms that allow light and material to find their ultimate expression in spaces.

This perspective deeply resonates with our own vision at DSTUDIO, where we understand landscape design as a discipline that transcends aesthetics to become a tool for connecting people and their surroundings. Like BALZAR, we value authenticity and the integration of the natural environment in each of our projects, always seeking solutions that respect and enhance local biodiversity.