Cateto Club in Marbella reimagines 1960s Costa del Sol nightlife

Set within Marbella Design and Art 2026, Cateto Club by Alejandro Cateto unfolds as a spatial inquiry into the legacy of leisure culture along Spain’s southern coast. The project revisits the atmosphere of 1960s Costa del Sol, a moment shaped by the emergence of “Estilo del Relax,” when the region became a global destination animated by figures such as Frank Sinatra and Brigitte Bardot. Rather than reconstructing this past through nostalgia, the project reframes it through a contemporary architectural lens, where form, light, and material operate as primary agents of meaning.

At the core of the design lies a single, consistent formal gesture: the cylinder. This geometry is deployed across scales and functions, structuring the project’s spatial language. It appears as voids carved into seating, as volumetric masses shaping the bar and stools, and as a repeating motif embedded within the ceramic flooring. Doors, thresholds, and custom lighting elements extend this logic, producing a continuous field where architecture dissolves into object and atmosphere. In this controlled system, decoration is deliberately reduced, allowing spatial expression to emerge through the interplay of geometry, color, and light.

The project establishes a dialogue with the work of figures such as Mario Bellini and Verner Panton, particularly in its use of immersive chromatic environments and soft geometries. At the same time, it anchors itself within a local architectural lineage, referencing structures such as the Aqua-Tec diving club in Fuengirola, the brutalist towers of Torremolinos, and the Ciudad Sindical de Vacaciones Tiempo Libre in Marbella. These references are not literal but are translated into a spatial vocabulary that oscillates between memory and reinterpretation.

Lighting becomes a central narrative device. Iconic pieces, including Panthella, Nesso, and Gambosa, are integrated alongside custom-designed elements such as the Sentry Sculpture Light. Together, they construct an environment where illumination is not merely functional but atmospheric, shaping perception and guiding movement. The entrance sequence reinforces this condition through a monumental circular door, three meters in diameter, evoking both Venturi’s notion of symbolic architecture and the expressive façades of historic nightclubs along the Costa del Sol.

Materiality further reinforces the project’s conceptual framework. Rough finishes and visible textures recall vernacular construction techniques such as gotelé and whitewashed surfaces. These are not treated as imperfections but as deliberate strategies, introducing tactility and grounding the project within a regional tradition. The result is a space where the tension between refinement and rawness becomes a defining experiential quality.

An additional layer is introduced through an installation developed in collaboration with interior landscaper Charo Benitez. Vegetation, including gerberas and sunflowers, occupies the space as a subtle commentary on the abandonment of many leisure structures from the 1960s. This intervention reflects processes of natural reclamation while raising questions about preservation and adaptive reuse.

Cateto Club ultimately operates as a constructed memory, where architecture becomes a medium to reinterpret a specific cultural moment. Within the temporary context of Marbella Design and Art, the project demonstrates how historical narratives can be translated into contemporary spatial practices without resorting to literal reconstruction.

Project Credit

Official Project name: Cateto Club
Location: Marbella, Málaga, Spain
Studio: Cateto Cateto / @cateto.cateto
Collaborating Architects: Daniel Espada, Gabriel Bascones de la Cruz
Area: 45 m²
Completion Date: 20 March 2026
Photo: Loveladrillo / @loveladrillo

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