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Architects: Paloma Bau Studio, Viraje arquitectura
- Area: 800 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:David Zarzoso
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Manufacturers: Gessi, Adriana Cabello, TEJAS BORJA
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Lead Architects: Paloma Bau y Jesus Herranz
Text description provided by the architects. Out of all the projects selected by the Architects Associations, the jury of Architecture Prizes chose Can Bau as one of the finalist projects, the summer residence that hosts three families inn, ready to stop the clock and let themselves be carried away by an eternal summer.
Can Bau is a project carried out through the collaboration of Paloma Bau Studio and Viraje Arquitecture Office, which was also in charge of the construction of the dwelling. Moraira is the context of Can Bau, a small town in the Costa Blanca area, with a fishing tradition and seven beaches. Historic buildings, fortified churches, castles, and walls coexist with sand and stone beaches and hiking trails.
When you enter Can Bau, take your time, surrender yourself with calm, and relive the best of the summertime at any time of the year. As soon as you walk through the door, you discover a large window that connects you directly to the outdoor area, flanked by a patio, enhancing the connection between the indoor and outdoor space that exists in the house. The continuous paving becomes a guiding thread and invites us to start the journey through a house without hierarchies where everything is shared.
The house is distributed on a single floor with two distinct areas. The night area houses three double bedrooms, two bathrooms and a fourth bedroom exclusive for the kids. The day area is considered a large open space with great height under a sloping roof; here is where the open kitchen is located with its built-in furniture, an island overlooking the pool and a dining room governed by a big sofa which is almost 5 meters long, located in front of the fireplace.
Built traditionally, using manual means and with only four materials, continuous concrete paving, lime mortar cladding - and continuous - stone and ceramics, it blends in with nature and the habitat of the site. The dwelling adapts to the plot, which has a complex topography and great unevenness, generating three platforms separated by barely two steps that differentiate the main uses: the night area, the day area and the swimming pool.
The furniture of the wet areas, kitchen, barbecue and outdoor areas is resolved with masonry elements, appearing as annexed volumes that emanate from the floor and walls, clad in the same materials. The interior and exterior furniture combines handcrafted elements, such as the esparto grass lamps made in a local basket maker’s workshop, with restored antique elements or furniture created ad hoc with materials out of context, such as the 4-meter-long outdoor table, whose material is the same as that of the swimming pool.
All the textiles in the house are in neutral tones, with linen predominating. The metallic joinery and accessories stand out from the neutral palette of the house, all in black, giving a more contemporary character to the whole. The result is delicate, singular and calm. A refuge that appeals to sensations of holism, warmth, calm and belonging. Because, as the project's technical team points out, "The important thing in Can Bau is not the how or the where, but the with whom".
