So, what role does colour and architecture play in modern cities? This is a question that I have been reflecting on since my visit to the La Muralla Roja in Spain, a masterpiece completed in the 1970s, by the renowned architect Ricardo Bofill. The La Muralla Roja sits along the coasts of Alicante in Spain, surrounded by clear blue waters, gold sandy beaches, and warm sunshine. From afar, the housing complex resembles a menacing fortress, painted in red, and rising from the hills that it is built on. Ricardo Bofill, the designer of the La Muralla Roja, held the impression that all modern buildings were designed with a similar style, with a monotone colour scheme that carried no personality.

Bofill wanted to use the complex to introduce a new genre of architecture in the city, resolving the urban and social concerns that arose following the Second World War. He established the Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura (RBTA), inviting architects, engineers, sociologists, and urban planners for cross-disciplinary collaborations, using political and social context as a framework for their designs. The La Muralla Roja was one of few projects within the La Manzanera development, where human-oriented designs were practiced, set out to rid us of alienation.

Often dubbed as “The Red Wall”, La Muralla Roja plays on the popular architecture of the Arab Mediterranean area, drawing aesthetic and cultural influences from the Mediterranean tradition of the casbah. In North Africa, casbah is the Arabic word for the central bastion of a city, a last place of defence. The complex is bordered with high walls and intricate trails, creating a fortress that is easy for its residents to defend, but difficult for intruders to attack. As a modern take on the traditional circulation of a casbah, Bofill created a labyrinth of interconnected walkways, staircases, bridges, and balconies that lead way to 50 different apartments within the complex, intending to remove the barriers between private and public used spaces.