La Julia—an upscale neighborhood in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic’s capital—beckoned to a couple from Spain who were keen on finding a new home in a far-flung locale. Tired of apartment living, they called upon Madrid-based designer Isabel López-Quesada to design a ground-up residence for their family. Delighted by the ambitious request, López-Quesada, in collaboration with Marta Marín, her architecture partner at her namesake studio, immediately plunged in. “It’s big, it’s airy, it has beautiful light,” she says of the house, an L-shaped structure the team brought to life over some two years.
Rather than evoke a traditional Caribbean atmosphere for the clients, López-Quesada crafted a decidedly urban abode. The sophisticated, textured interiors brim with fresh details like textiles emblazoned with botanicals in the everyday dining room, Maison Jansen palm-tree lighting in the toile de Jouy–enveloped guest bathroom, and expanses of white throughout, all subtly reinforcing the tropical setting. López-Quesada and Marín paid special attention to the project’s location, often besieged with storms and hurricanes, during the entire design process. “It’s just a few kilometers from the sea, so the weather is in full force,” the designer explains.
The entire edifice, for example, was raised to circumvent flooding, and resilient French windows were installed to offer protection from fierce rain and winds. Any openings are buoyed by screens fashioned out of raffia from the Philippines that safeguard fabrics and paintings from the Dominican Republic’s unrelenting stream of blistering sunshine, while a capacious porch on the south façade, complete with table and chairs for alfresco dining, also provides a reprieve from the heat.
The entrance, distinguished by antique urns and French lanterns, first enthralls visitors with a lacquered-chinoiserie cabinet in a small, paneled foyer. Then other treasures unfold, like the dramatic staircase accentuated by an iron balustrade that ascends to the couple and their three children’s bedrooms. Another more practical set of stairs is often utilized by the kids and the live-in staff. Brightened by mirrors that reflect copious amounts of light, the large, wide hallway is another standout that exudes the aura of an intimate boutique hotel.