Many factors determine whether something constitutes a good design or not. One aspect often overlooked is consistency—producing unwavering quality with a consistent visual language. And concerning architecture, that consistency can be found throughout the extensive portfolio of Fran Silvestre. His firm’s latest build comes in the form of a clean-cut, pure white dwelling in Spain’s southeastern coastal city of Valencia.

The project, named ÀTIC BLANC, seeks to reinterpret this type of housing approach, recovering the potential of disused roofs. “We like to think that each building takes away an open space from the city and gives it back on the roof.”

The central access of the house allows the programme to be organised in an orderly manner, where a continuous space is articulated for the kitchen, dining room, and living room. This space opens onto different terraces on both sides, favouring natural cross ventilation. The night area is located on the other side of the access. The axiality of the proposal appears in all of the rooms. It is enhanced by the arrangement of different elements, such as the linear lights on the ceiling or the fixed furniture.

The terrace is understood as a kind of atrium open to the sky, seeking the feeling of being in an isolated building from which to contemplate the city. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to live with the spatial quality and scale of a small village in the centre of cities? Senses of spaciousness and privacy are undoubtedly successful attributes of this project. But in typical Fran Silvestre fashion, the natural and soft artificial light bounces off the minimal white box interior, making this a genuinely tranquil rooftop residence.