Paula Rosales Torroba

Since I can remember I enjoyed beautiful and intelligent objects and spaces. They had an impact on my mood, that I didn´t recognize then. Now I know how design can influence emotions. My parents had a taste for good design and architecture. My stepfather is an architect and I followed his steps. In architecture school and through its practice I was able find the tools to approach design at different scales.

My company more&co is an boutique architecture and design office, focussed on custom designs for private and commercial projects. We are 3 to 4 architects inhouse, and collaborate with independent multidisplinary consultants when necessary. I find it very stimulating to bring in new professionals and talents to enrich our work and give us new perspectives.

For me design is an operative system, a tool to respond to client’s needs and resources with creativity, and above all, to improve people’s lives.

My taste for design is more about the challenge and the freedom, than about the type of work. Usually commercial projects have a less restrictive approach, but crazy time schedules. Residential projects are very personalized to the client preferences, but give us more time to develop ideas. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages. What we try in every case, is to learn and experiment with something new and stimulating. It can be a concept, a material, a construction detail…anything that help us grow.

My first design for a company was an office space for Aldeasa (now Dufry). We designed the layout of the whole staff, the meeting rooms, and the graphics that defined the different areas.

My favorite materials are natural: wood, stone. I like when technology allows the use of natural materials in new ways, as in thinner layers, or unusual applications.

When I am under pressure, and I can share ideas with my team. I like brainstorming, revising other projects, looking for inspiration in other fields (nature, art, gastronomy, etc)

It depends on the scale of the project, the budget, and the client needs. But I try to keep the “big picture” always in mind. Not to get lost in the details. These are important, and we keep track of all details until the end. But my role is to never lose the general goal of the project.

When I get started I feel a little anxious…” will I be able to fulfill my client expectations? Will I give the best possible solution?”…I can even get a little paralyzed with my perfectionism tendency. But at this point, I have learned to let this thoughts pass, and get to work. Once I am immerged in the process, I start to feel enthusiastic, and to enjoy the potential of the ideas.

I often feel surprised that we were able to make it after all the obstacles we usually face. I am proud, and grateful to the people that helped me to make it possible. After a while, I disconnect emotionally from the project, and let it have his own life…almost like a baby: it starts to be independent form his parents.

A design is successful when it meets the client requirements, and improves in some way the user’s life and experience.

First it needs to make sense: for its purpose, for its environment. Then I get a sense of its beauty, harmony, how it makes me feel.

Designers have a big impact on both society and environment. Our responsibility is to be conscious of this impact, and to be as sustainable as possible. Design has also the potential to be pedagogic, to transmit ideas and values. We should definitely use it to improve our lives.

Design is evolving to connect and even manipulate people´s emotions. Unfortunately, the goal is often to generate a desire to buy, to consume. Design is not considering enough to fight against planned obsolescence…I cannot read the future, but my wish is a world where design connects us to each other and to our environment in a more conscious and responsible way.

It comes from observation. The source can be almost anything: nature, art, other designs, a conversation. Always from outside the office!

I like to think that I don’t design under a particular style, although I am sure my projects have similarities at some level. But I am more interested on strategy, and solving more than one issue with each design solution. I like optimization in my approach to design.

In my city, Madrid, Spain, outdoor life is very important, as well as social and family gathering.

In the selection of a designer, there needs to be a clear briefing of what the company is looking for, and the program of the project. Portfolio, references, and a personal interview with the designer are necessary, in order to look for a good match. Success of a project is not only based on design talent, but also on other professional skills as team coordination, budget control, construction experience, etc. After selecting a designer that seems to fit these requirements, trust is important.

When starting a design, I like to analyze carefully all the requirements and challenges that we need to solve, and start thinking about general strategies. Sometimes these are not even buildable, but rather conceptual, social, economic or functional. I look for inspiration in the fields that can be related: in NuBel for example, in art (we were working in a modern art museum), in gastronomy (it is a restaurant), in mathematics (we needed a system that could work at all scales, and repeat itself). Slowly all this steps start to find an order, to translate into drawings, plans, sketches. At fist very general, and then more specific. Once I have a general layout, or volumetric idea, I look for related images that can express my intuitions, in order to explain them to mi clients. In this way we start moving forward, developing these ideas with more detail.

I would say first the kitchen…all parties end up in the kitchen! Cooking tools, although I am not a very good cook! But the whole ritual of preparing a meal, to gather with friends and family is very attractive. Light fixtures, that are beautiful objects, but also create beautiful moments around their glow.

A week day: Wake up early, take my kid to school, come to the office, meat with my team to have an update, go to a job site, answer calls/emails, have lunch at home (I work/live in the same building), order groceries online (being a working mum needs multitasking), come back to the office to work on a project or meet with a client, go back home to help with homework, have dinner, read a little bit (sometimes too tired), 15 minutes of meditation, and The End.

Patience. We are getting used to immediate gratification on everything. But it takes time to get experience, to build up a portfolio. To learn from others, share experiences, and keep curiosity alive.

It is positive to see your work build and used, to get feedback from the people you designed for. Not so positive is the enormous amount of energy that is often wasted, when being ambitious and not reaching an outstanding result because of unpredictable obstacles.

I don’t think I have one, but I feel that good design seem obvious, natural, as if there was no effort behind it, as if it was meant to be like that.

Personal features as empathy, sensitivity, intuition, curiosity, creativity. And skills as graphic ability, spatial vision.

Not too well, since I feel that I never have enough time! We finish when we are out of time basically.

My working experience in NYC at the beginning of my career. It gave me a open minded vision of my profession, and very good working habits.

I lead the design process in my office, but we develop it as a team.