Virginia González Rebollo, Raúl Villafáñez Marcos. VIRA arquitectura

VIRA arquitectura is an architecture studio founded by Virginia González Rebollo and Raúl Villafáñez Marcos in 2021, based in León, Spain.

Their practice encompasses a wide range of projects, from interventions in architectural heritage—notably the restoration of the Casa Botines Building and the Episcopal Palace of Astorga, two of only three Gaudí works outside of Catalonia, and the rehabilitation of the Mirador del Concejo building in the Plaza Mayor of León—to new construction—with examples such as the Technology-Based Business Center and the Salamanca Provincial Council Archive, among others.

With a work approach based on respect for architecture and its surroundings, and a near-perfect balance between private and public projects, largely the result of national and international public competitions, they understand the profession as a social commitment to the urban fabric and its relationship to how we live in it.

Virginia González Rebollo, an architect from the ETSAM (Madrid School of Architecture) and a Master in Histories and Theories of Architecture from the AA London, founded her own studio in 2001 after collaborating with the studios of Javier Fresneda, Javier San Juan, and Juan Navarro Baldeweg. She has received recognition for her competitions and built projects, including the Casa de Descanso (Rest House) in Celada de la Vega, the 90+15 building in the R8 Partial Plan in Astorga, the Sucesores de Espiña Funeral Home, the Michelin-starred Cocinandos restaurant, the Ventas Oeste Civic and Sports Center, and the Babia Health Center. She was a speaker at the Gaudí World Congress in Astorga in 2018.

Raúl Villafáñez Marcos, an architect from the ETSAVa (Valencia School of Architecture), completed two research grants at the same institution: one in the Department of Architectural Representation and another in Architectural Theory. She collaborated with the Belgian studio of Philippe Samyn & Partners and later joined Virginia's studio in 2019, forming VIRA arquitectura in 2021.