Inspired by the fluid morphologies of water. This is Presentedby at Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport. Concept & Design by: External Reference Architects 3D Printing by: LAMÁQUINA
External Reference Architects
Architecture and Planning
Barcelona, Cataluña 5,064 followers
Architects and designers, combining digital and physical for unique spatial experiences.
About us
External Reference Studio is a Barcelona-based architecture and design firm that aims at breaking the boundaries between architecture, visual arts and digital tools for generating unique spatial experiences. Our studio is an international hub of young designers led by experienced professionals with a specialization in retail and hospitality. We provide our clients with a clear insight of the design process, allowing them to participate in the shaping of their ideal spaces. Our careful attention to detail is matched by our expertise in the digital tools required for the control of complex shapes and accurate details. We aim at designing unique spatial experiences that are capable of generating valuable emotions and memories in the users of our architecture. In order to engage deeply with people, we use both traditional fabrication and digital innovation, integrating them in a way that enhances both materiality and interaction, seamlessly transitioning between physical and virtual spatial performances. The digital age is causing a disconnect between people and the physical reality, promoting convenience over interaction. As architects, we believe that physical space is going to play a fundamental role in reminding humanity the relevance of experiences and memories in building identity. As professionals, we believe that physical space can represent a great opportunity for brands to overcome the challenges brought on by the digitalization of services.
- Website
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http://www.externalreference.com
External link for External Reference Architects
- Industry
- Architecture and Planning
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- Barcelona, Cataluña
- Type
- Privately Held
- Founded
- 2007
- Specialties
- interior design, experience design, architecture, industrial design, digital fabrication, interaction design, exhibition design, 3d printing, experiential, architecture, phygital, digital architecture, digital design, innovation, art, and digital art
Locations
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Primary
Get directions
Carrer de Valencia 287
Barcelona, Cataluña 08009, ES
Employees at External Reference Architects
Updates
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Starting July 22, VAS is part of the exhibition at Museo del Disseny de Barcelona, shortlisted for the Delta Awards 2026. The piece is 3D printed in ceramic and cork, developed in collaboration with Amorim Cork as part of the Residui Project, an inquiry into waste as raw material, also exhibited at HoperAperta. Every decision on material and proportion responds to a question about how we inhabit everyday objects, and what we choose to discard. If you're in Barcelona, we'd love for you to see it in person.
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Tomorrow, External Reference Architects opens its studio doors as part of Architecture Studio Sessions, one of ten events within the official UNESCO-@UIA World Capital of Architecture 2026 program in Barcelona. From 18:30 to 21:00 at Carrer de València 287, we'll share our workspace, our process, and the thinking behind our projects, in a format that brings architecture and music together, curated by the studio itself. A reminder for those already confirmed: we're looking forward to welcoming you tomorrow; we are so excited! World-Architects.com | PSA Publishers Ltd. Labóh Miriam Giordano L35 Architects Gaia Pellegrini John Hill
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Designing for a football club means designing for identity before anything else. For Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña SAD's new store at Riazor Abanca Stadium, we translated Onda Branca, the wave that gives the fans their name, into a physical structure: over 130 modules robotically 3D-printed in recycled PETG by LAMÁQUINA, tinted in the club's colours and assembled into a single sculptural form that runs the length of the space. Interior surfaces are treated with PureTech, a coating that captures airborne pollutants as it works. The result, opened for the club's 120th anniversary, is a 250 square meter space where digital fabrication carries a century of local identity. Full project at externalreference.com
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Our CEO & Head of Design, Dr. Carmelo Zappulla, is on the WAF Jury 2026. Here is his recommendation for all the participants. Via World Architecture Festival
Dr. Carmelo Zappulla is an Italian architect and founder of External Reference Architects, a Barcelona-based studio specialising in exhibition spaces, urban design, interior, and product innovation. This year he brings his expertise, knowledge and passion for design to Florida as he takes part in the #WAF26 jury. Ahead of the Festival, we caught up with Carmelo and heard his reflections on WAF, its value, and how entrants can make their mark during the live judging process. On why the Festival is so important, he described it as ‘a barometer of where the profession is actually heading’, noting that the projects shortlisted ‘tend to be the ones grappling with the questions that matter most right now.’ Similarly, Carmelo highlighted the inherent value that lies in ‘what happens…when hundreds of architects from different countries and cultures end up in the same place for a few days.’ Discover Carmelo’s key advice for #WAF entrants 👉
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On 8 July, External Reference Architects opens its doors as part of Architecture Studio Sessions, a program by World Architects in collaboration with L35 Architects and Labóh within Barcelona World Capital of Architecture 2026. Led by Dr. Carmelo Zappulla, the session takes place at the BCN studio's headquarters in the Eixample: a modernist building where Nolla mosaics and stained-glass windows coexist with a contemporary design and digital fabrication lab. The format combines a studio presentation, a guided office tour, and a social gathering with music curated by the architects themselves. Ten Barcelona studios are taking part this year, in an initiative curated by Gaia Pellegrini, Miriam Giordano, and John Hill, with support from LAUFEN Bathrooms, Roca España, and Simon Electric - APAC This session is already at full capacity. If you're unable to attend, please cancel your registration at support@world-architects.com, so someone else can take your place. More information at world-architects.com See you soon! #ArchitectureStudioSessions #WorldArchitects #UIA2026BCN
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Inspired by prehistoric fossil shells and their spiral growth patterns. This is the RIN Dubai Offices for Undercover Brothers at Index Tower. Concept & Design by: External Reference Architects 3D Printing by: LAMÁQUINA
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Just two weeks to open our doors! Can't wait to see you all. #SAVETHEDATE OPEN STUDIO SESSIONS External Reference Architects
#SAVETHEDATE | We look forward to seeing you next Wednesday, 8 July, for the sixth session of Architecture Studio Sessions at the headquarters of External Reference Architects ⚫ The itinerary will continue at the studio directed by Carmelo Zappulla, located in a modernist building in the Eixample district, where mosaics and stained-glass windows dialogue with a contemporary design and digital fabrication laboratory. The session will consist of a presentation by the host studio, a guided tour of their offices, and a social gathering accompanied by music—featuring playlists and DJ sessions curated by the architects themselves. — (6) External Reference 8 July at 18:30 Carrer de València 287, 1a PPal. 🔗 More info at world-architects.com *We are pleased to announce that this session is already at full capacity. Therefore, if for any reason you are unable to join us, we kindly ask you to cancel your registration by sending an email to support@world-architects.com so that someone else can take your place. — → Architecture Studio Sessions is a program promoted by World-Architects.com | PSA Publishers Ltd. in collaboration with L35 Architects and Labóh, in which ten architecture studios in Barcelona will open their doors this year as part of the Barcelona World Capital of Architecture 2026. The program invites the public to step inside the studios to share their ways of working, their philosophies, and their spaces. The curators of the initiative are Gaia Pellegrini, Miriam Giordano, and John Hill, and it is sponsored by LAUFEN Bathrooms, Roca España, and SIMON. 01 - Photo © Anna Mas 02 - Stairs and Viewpoint Hotel Vela, Barcelona. Photo © Adrià Goula 03 - Spain Pavilion Dubai 2020. Photo © Adrià Goula 04 - Vicio Glòries. Photo © Marek Jarosz 05 - External Reference Team. Photo © Anna Mas #ArchitectureStudioSessions #WorldArchitects #UIA2026BCN #Becoming
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Last Friday we welcomed Sara Candiracci, PhD in Urban Planning and Director of Innovation Partnerships at RMIT Europe, for a new edition of External Talks. Her talk on Inclusive Design raised a question too often asked too late in a project: who are we actually designing for, and who gets left out without us noticing? External Talks is our way of opening the studio to the architecture and design community, and of bringing these conversations into our External Family. Thank you, Sara, for the generosity of your time and your thinking.
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The Corner Shopping Center | A retail space in Tenerife drawn from the island's own landscape. The Atlantic coast, the volcanic rock formations that line the shore reinterpreted through design and technology into a shopping environment that could only exist here. Local identity as a spatial strategy, and not as decoration. https://lnkd.in/ewQ9_p-q
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