Architecture in Bilbao and Bizkaia

Deurbe is a Bilbao-based architecture studio that has been designing and managing new build, refurbishment and renovation work across Bizkaia since 1990: single-family homes, residential developments, heritage buildings and tertiary spaces. Since 2026 it also keeps a permanent office in Gijón.

We work for private clients, developers and homeowners' associations. We can take on the whole commission —from the first analysis of the property to handover on site— or only the stage you need. The team brings architecture, building technology and interior design together under one roof, with outside specialists when a project warrants them.

How we work

Before drawing anything, we understand the property. A sloping site beside the Castaños river, a 1925 mansion in Getxo and a development of 89 homes do not share a single starting decision: the applicable regulations, the structure, the orientation, the timescales and the expected return are all different. That upfront analysis —use, the constraints of the site or the existing building, the budget and the planning framework— is what makes it possible to commit to a brief that then holds up on site.

From there, the scope is defined with you. Some clients only need the design and the permit; others ask us to run everything, including planning applications, technical coordination and site management. Either way, you talk directly to the person who signs the project.

Housing and residential development in Bizkaia

In residential development, the design has to resolve the homes and the balance sheet at the same time.

At Gorostiza Loft, in Barakaldo, the site came constrained by the road climbing to El Regato and by the nearby Castaños river. The building answers with two distinct faces: a restrained urban front towards the road, which doubles as acoustic protection, and an open one towards the valley, with half-cantilevered volumes facing south-east. It holds 30 generous homes —mostly four-bedroom, around 125 m² of usable floor area and terraces of some 30 m²— along with 30 storage rooms, 32 parking spaces and four tertiary-use units.

The 89 homes in Santurtzi, completed in 2025 for Viuda de Sainz, resolve in a single scheme two briefs that usually run separately: half open-market housing and half protected-price housing (VPT), in two buildings that read as one.

Refurbishing buildings of heritage value

Refurbishing well is, above all, deciding what not to touch.

At the refurbishment in Arriluce, in Getxo, we kept the original composition and colours of the 1925 mansion and carried them inside, where a white architecture brings classicism and modernity together without either getting in the other's way. The brief organised two independent homes for one family —one across the lower floors, one under the roof— each with its own entrance and services, plus a shared lift sized for the older members of the household. The commission was completed with the garden and a new swimming pool. Deurbe took on site management and the modification of a design drawn up by other professionals.

The Palacio de Oriol, in Santurtzi, took that approach to another scale: around 10,000 m² of built area and an investment close to €15,000,000, with three new floors excavated beneath a palace built between 1902 and 1905. The hotel complex articulates three pieces: the landscaped setting that stitches it into central Santurtzi, a semi-underground volume known as the Zócalo —holding much of the guest accommodation and a 500 m² multifunctional hall— and the Palace itself, which keeps the formal rooms and the best bedrooms.

Energy performance and cost of ownership

A building is properly judged ten years on. That is why we resolve construction with proven solutions rather than experiments: work that can be costed accurately, produces fewer defects and costs less to maintain across its service life.

Gorostiza Loft was eco-designed and audited by AENOR at both design and construction stage. Raw material use fell by 18% during the works. Compared with a building that merely meets current regulations, it cuts primary energy consumption by almost 40% and greenhouse gas emissions by 45%, and lets its residents save up to 30% on water and 75% on electricity. Its A energy rating confirms near-zero consumption.

What to ask before choosing an architecture studio in Bilbao

Every studio shows good photographs. The difference shows up earlier: in how the commission is framed and in who will actually run it. These are five useful questions for the first meeting. Our guide to choosing an architecture studio in Bizkaia comes before that conversation: what the law requires of you, the stages of a project, how fees are calculated and what else you pay, which permits you need and how long they take.

1. Have you done something like this before?

   A single-family home, a listed refurbishment, a housing development and a tertiary building have almost nothing in common. Ask for examples of the type of commission, not of the style.

2. How far does your work go?

   Put in writing whether the studio covers design only, or also planning applications, technical coordination and site management.

3. Who is on the team?

   Architecture, building technology, interior design and building services are different profiles. Knowing which sit inside the studio and which are subcontracted tells you a lot about the programme.

4. Do you know the municipality?

   Getxo's planning rules are not Barakaldo's. Local experience saves months of consenting.

5. Who will I be talking to during construction?

   It is the question that shapes daily life on a project most, and the one almost nobody asks. Ask who signs the design, who visits the site and how often.

The selection on this page brings together projects in Getxo, Barakaldo, Santurtzi, Sopelana and elsewhere in Bizkaia. You can see all architecture projects or meet the team before telling us about yours.