“This is not Ibiza,” says architect Alexander Bernjus, pointing to the desert landscape that fringes Playa de Famara on Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. Bernjus was born and raised in Germany, where he’s still a partner at the Frankfurt studio Bernjus Gisbertz Szajak, but he’s lived part-time on the volcanic island since 2009. “What attracts me to Lanzarote is the way it has shaped its own identity,” he says. “You won’t find showy architecture, loft-style interiors, or a neutral color palette here. Black lava stones, craters, dusty roads—Lanzarote is rough, and the island influences the architecture.”

As he worked on the following three homes, Bernjus upheld the principles of César Manrique, the artist and designer who shaped the island. Manrique is famous not only for his organic buildings—which are embedded in the rocky terrain and evoke the vibrant colors of the landscape—but also for the regulations he championed, which protected the island from high-rise buildings and tourist behemoths. “Manrique is my inspiration,” Bernjus says. “Some architects want to distance themselves from him because they feel a little limited by the rules he made, but I don’t. He prepared the fundament on which I am now building.”

The Beach House

Sprayed concrete, pino canario wood, and organic shapes set the tone the home of Luc Carpentier, the founder and former director of the Belgian dance festival Laundry Day. “The wooden circles and mirrors on the ceiling resemble an art installation,” says Luc. The kitchen cabinetry and table, as well as the bookcase in the bedroom, were made to measure by local craftsmen, and Luc bought the chairs on the neighboring island of Fuerteventura. “Canarian crafts are underestimated,” says Bernjus. “Why buy a table from abroad if we have all this know-how to manufacture them here on the island? We don’t have to import designer tables. We can create our own.”

The City House

Stylist and design consultant Oliver Schmid bought an abandoned, century-old house and transformed it into El Patio del Charco, a two-level vacation rental in Arrecife, on the eastern coast. Oliver and Bernjus created multilayered spaces by mixing volcanic stone, carpets from Catawiki, and furnishings sourced on the island. “I didn’t want the impersonal look of an Airbnb,” Oliver says. “It should feel like a home.”

The Village House

The entrance of Brigitte and Dieter Emmel’s countryside home almost looks like a Mondrian painting, with its geometric play of pigment and rectangular shapes. “The color is known as Lanzarote green, and it’s typical of the island,” says Bernjus. “In the past, windows were preserved with leftover paint from fishermen’s boats.” This traditional hue is now one of the only colors permitted for doors and windows on the island, along with a dark brown, natural woods, and, in seaside fishing villages, a shade of blue. “This regulation was invented by Manrique,” explains Bernjus. “Can you imagine the effect of one simple rule like this? He carefully guarded Lanzarote’s visual identity.”

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Alexander Bernjus

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Three Homes in the Canary Islands Pay Homage to a Local Legend