Vía Construcción Magazine- Grup Idea: Design, service and construction

Grup Idea is an international company specialized in imagining, designing and building spaces. Since 2009 they have Abessis, their construction company. The study is made up of six partners, Lluís Sáiz, Artur Ortíz, Alejandro Mora, Rodolfo Pérez-Martos, Miquel Àngel Julià and Juan Guaita.

Grup Idea’s work is based on accompanying the client from the creation of the design linked to the business strategy, the implementation of the project and the final construction. They have worked in sectors such as retail, offices, hotels, restaurants and social-health spaces. The objective of Grup Idea is always to take into account the user experience and produce a return on investment for the company, increase sales in retail or improve productivity in corporate offices.

• What caught your attention about architecture to make it your profession?

Lluís Sáiz: Personally, I studied architecture because I was able to explore both the artistic and the technical aspects. The subjects included the calculation of structures and more artistic subjects such as drawing in watercolor and the design of projects of all kinds. It is a fascinating balance, which helps you see challenges and projects from many points of view.

Artur Ortíz: Since I was very young I was passionate about drawing and calculating. The possibility of designing new architectural forms, defining the construction materials and keeping control of the execution process excited me and I decided to dedicate myself to architecture. In the long run, I have oriented my professional career towards management to manage more efficient projects in quality, time and cost.

• How did your paths come together and Grup Idea emerged?

Grup Idea started walking in 1996. The founding partners are Lluís Sáiz, architect and Arturo Ortiz, technical architect. At that time, we worked as a conventional architecture studio in Barcelona and, later on, we entered the world of office design for banks with national projects.

Over time we went from being an architecture firm to making Grup Idea a professional services company that integrated design, engineering, management and construction, carried out through our company Abessis. In 2007 we were already working in the field of corporate architecture and we took another leap to design, implement and build retail projects, social and health centers, hotels and restaurants throughout Europe.

Today, we have more than seventy people among our own resources and collaborators. We have subsidiaries in France, England and Mexico and we have reinforced our presence in the Mediterranean corridor with a new office in Valencia.

• You are characterized by the possibility of approaching projects through three legs such as “Imagine, Design and Build”. Why is it and what advantages does it offer when developing the jobs?

At Grup Idea we imagine spaces based on the business and user model. We propose the action from the conceptual phase of the project, and then carry out the design and final concretion with the construction and equipping of spaces.

Since 2009 we offer the construction service through our construction company, Abessis. The truth is that our clients asked for it and it was the natural evolution. Now we offer all the services of the value chain and the client can contact us at any stage of the project.

Incorporating construction gives us all the credibility, since we commit more to the cost than what we design. Design and Construction are for us the two sides of a coin.

Read the full interview in spanish in the online version of Vía Construcción 151 about Grup Idea Arquitectura.