ENORME Studio is an architecture and design firm based in Madrid and led by Rocío Pina and Carmelo Rodríguez. The studio is characterized by its radical approach to architecture, the city, and people. They design and build architectural projects based on industrial systems and typological innovation, in addition to participating in city construction dynamics. Its objective is to encourage alternative ways of examining urban problems and to motivate the creation of a proactive citizen culture.
They design and apply tactical city planning tools that transfer teamwork strategies and collective thinking dynamics to the design and management of public and private space. ENORME's goal is to return the city to its citizens as an emotional, plural, and relational space.
Its work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial, the MOMA in New York, the Oslo Architecture Triennale "After Belonging," the Madrid Design Festival, and the Salone del Mobile di Milano, among others, and its designs have been published in some of the most influential media outlets, including Domus, Arquitectura Viva, The New York Times, The Guardian, Arquine, and El Pais.
We interview Carmelo Rodríguez and Rocío Pina, who tell us about the studio and their work on temporary, interactive installations and residential projects:
Interiors from Spain: How did the studio get its start? What defines you? What areas of design and architecture inspire you?
Enorme Studio: ENORME is an attitude towards design and architecture. An ENORME project does not have to be big in size, but it does have to be big in intensity. In this sense, we work in three areas related to design and architecture. The first is temporary installations, where we work with brands, institutions, and art centers to create spaces that become memorable experiences. The second has to do with flexible spaces, which are projects that we develop through our parallel brand BEYOME. The third has to do with teaching and innovation in architecture, interior design, and furniture design environments.
Interiors from Spain: How do you bring your temporary installations to the people? How do they interact with the city where they take place?
Enorme Studio: One of the areas in which we have worked the most are temporary installations in public spaces. In that regard, we try to build a space that contributes something more to the city and its citizens. In Chihuahua, Mexico we renovated a fountain and turned it into an urban spa, and in Madrid we built a large greenhouse that became a center for conferences, workshops, and meetings in the deserted Plaza de la Luna. In addition to representing the brand or institution, we always bring something interesting and surprising to the city.
Interiors from Spain: In your interactive and immersive installations, what do you try to convey? How does the visiting audience react?
Enorme Studio: In interactive installations we always try to build a surprising space that you can interact with. We believe that design should be a tool that opens the collective imagination of what can be done at a spatial level. These installations become the R+D+I of future, more permanent spaces. The reactions of the public are always very positive, and above all they enjoy them.
Interiors from Spain: Tell us about the “BEYOME” residential brand for a flexible lifestyle. When did you create it? What does it offer to private clients? What brands do you work with?
Enorme Studio: BEYOME was born in 2020, together with our partners PROJECT CONSORTIUM and XEITO Investments, which has several carpentry and industrialized construction companies and who were perfect to help us evolve all the furniture that we had already prototyped in several of our houses such as All I Own House or EIP House. We are working with to renovate several apartments in the center of Madrid. We are renovating homes and converting them into fully-equipped flexible homes, which at the same time allow us to expand the surface area of increasingly compact apartments. We are also looking for a site where we can build the first flexible housing building in Madrid. So, right now we are working for clients on a couple of very exclusive flexible projects, but we want to focus on shifting the project away from “pret a porter” and toward more industrialized production.
Interiors from Spain: And you are thinking of taking this brand to the "contract" sector (restaurants, hotels, etc.)?
Enorme Studio: We are working right now on a couple of studies for hotel groups that have very seasonal assets and need flexible systems for these very different seasonal contexts. Systems that allow for several rooms to be converted into an apartment depending on the requirements of each season and each context.
Interiors from Spain: Your work has been exhibited at Architecture Biennials, museums, and design festivals in Italy, the US, Spain, and Norway. What do these recognitions mean to the studio? Any that you are particularly proud of?
Enorme Studio: Of course, it is very important for us to be present in these prestigious places. With regard to the Biennials, winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale as part of the Spanish pavilion was spectacular. To highlight another very interesting context, being able to design the Astral Bodies by FINSA installation for the Salone del Mobile in Milan was also a milestone for us.
Interiors from Spain: You have won multiple international awards, and one of the latest was for the design of the Spanish Pavilion at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2022, where Spain was the guest of honor. What was the most striking aspect of this project?
Enorme Studio: The project was a challenge in terms of time and, above all, having to represent the diverse, exuberant ecosystem of Spanish literature in a setting such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the most important in the world. We were delighted that, during the fair, authors such as Rosa Montero and Irene Vallejo congratulated us for offering such a contemporary, interactive, and plural vision of the Spanish literary context. Seeing the pavilion full of people all the time, and that kind of show of affection from "giants" like Rosa and Irene is spectacular. Elvira Marco, the curator of the pavilion, gave us one of the best compliments ever about our work: “it is the first time that the built project is much better than the render....”
Interiors from Spain: The 6th edition of the Madrid Design Festival was held this year. As a Madrid studio that has collaborated with this festival, what does it bring to the city, and how does it enrich its design culture?
Enorme Studio: A festival like the Madrid Design Festival is fundamental for a city like Madrid. It has been a pleasure to be part of it since its inception in 2018, and we will continue to support it in the future. It is inconceivable to think of the city without its design festival.
Interiors from Spain: You work for major brands such as IKEA and Telefónica and well-known artistic and cultural institutions such as the MOMA in New York or the Thyssen Museum in Madrid. What do they like about your work?
Enorme Studio: One issue that has been a constant in all these projects is identifying the resulting spaces with the brands’ or institutions’ own identity and personality. We always work to reinterpret singularity, and with the idea of thinking up spaces that, although ephemeral, will remain in the minds of the people who experience them. Some of these projects have in fact become subsequent lines of research for the brands themselves, such as the Home Back Home installation we did with IKEA about the return home of thousands of young Spaniards due to the crisis.
Interiors from Spain: What installations and projects are you working on at the moment? Anything outside of Spain?
Enorme Studio: At the moment we are very focused on the one hand on BEYOME, finishing several apartment renovations in the center of Madrid and studying the renovation of a shopping center into a “coliving,” a type of space which, if the project ends up getting confirmed, will be totally innovative.
On the other hand, we are working on several installations, the most important of which is the FINSA stand for the Interzum fair in Cologne. In less than a month, a very powerful space will be built that will showcase the brand's catalog of products in a very special way.