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Architects: Joaquim Mestre Ferrer, Mauro Conti
- Area: 840 m²
- Year: 2010
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Photographs:Duccio Malagamba
Text description provided by the architects. The residence is sited in a housing development on the hillside of the Aro Valley, on the Costa Brava of Girona province, some 100 km to the north of Barcelona.
The 840-m2 plot has a peculiar shape, which is the result of the division into plots applied on the lower and upper sections of the main street and bounded on the western side by a 180-degree curve, which also forms a boundary between the housing development and a green zone.
The land is sharply sloped and despite its irregular shape is well oriented from north to south longitudinally and has exceptional views over the valley and the sea.
The project is a single-family home for a couple with two children. A home, a place of sanctuary, a place of peace and quiet, of harmony, a place for sharing, for retreat, in which to play and to work, a hideaway for loving and for arguing.
Three moments.
Arriving (basement floor). The mountain protects me. The basement is my cave. I have arrived in my refuge. I take off my coat and shoes. I have arrived home. I am at home. You arrive from outside. You discover the spaces and the volumes. The water guides you to a staircase. You go up. The swimming pool accompanies you, the lounge, the dining room... and the kitchen? Your gaze now focuses inside. I see you. You too have arrived.
Sharing (ground floor). Family, friends, interior and exterior exist harmoniously, without any doors, without any barriers, or fences or railings, or blinds or curtains. The construction’s resulting shadows protect us. Rock, water, wood, iron and concrete, for building spaces, revealing corners, encountering and finding oneself, creating moments and memories. Interrelated spaces, modulated by height, by virtually imperceptible changes in level, by the associations with the outside (is it really outside?), ... our world is your world.
Resting (first floor). The frame. A compact volume, which is hermetic on the outside and opens out inside. A cut in the side façade for revealing the day every morning and a great projecting front opening from which to immerse oneself in the Aro Valley. A unique interior space, hierarchically organised by pathwaysand modulated by the sequence of rooms… our world is my world.
A simple house. Simply a house, and happy clients. Good.
