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Architects: MYCC
- Area: 212 m²
- Year: 2013
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Photographs:José Hevia
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Manufacturers: Focus
Text description provided by the architects. There is something in every project that comes from visiting the site and listening to clients. And there is also an interesting part at the beginning of every project that comes from the everyday training. While the first is a very attractive translation job, the second has to do with the positive part of experience.
When an idea, a sketch, a drawing, a diagram or a conversation does not go further because a project stops or it is clear that it is not so suitable for now, it is ready for a next project. Sometimes one is waiting to have a commission just for a project that remains somewhere over the table. Then, the solution is already here and now it is time to mix with climate, program, budget, topography and urban regulations.
A holiday home in a consolidated urban development not far from a big city could be a good commission to go on working with the Mediterranean house. It is a type of house which stress on the important connection between outside and inside, life takes place both indoor and outdoor. Therefore, different architectural situations should appear in its right position: porch, patio, and terrace.
The main room of the house extends to a porch facing south that can be seen as the glass wall of the living moves back to leave a shaded space outside. A patio open to the east provides a cozy place both to stay as well as communicate different rooms of the house. First floor has been reduced to a long plain unit to leave open sunny terraces for all rooms.
Inside space seeks to be open, flexible and connected to exteriors. The most important place is the light spacious living that looks towards porch and patio and also goes higher in a part to reach the upper floor. Further from the colorful stairs is a private room for the owners and upstairs a concept like hotel space where family and friends will accommodate until the no vacancies sign hangs on the door.
Modular steel structures helped to organize the space. A big open module for the porch plus three big scale modules for the living dining kitchen room, two small modules for access, stairs, laundry, and then a big one for master bedroom and bathroom. Upper floor is made of a collection of small modules for four bedrooms, a bathroom and an empty space over the living.
Bigger modules are 8,6 x 3,0 meters and 4,5m x 3,0 meters the small ones. All are made of steel pillars and beams whit a thin composite slab. The façade is a colored fiber cement rain screen that allows a top climate performance. Walls are isolated by two polyurethane boards as well as mineral wool inside the plaster board structure.
In order to show the difference between low and upper floor, the same material is used but in a very different way. While in ground floor the boards are green, big and irregularly set, upstairs the fiber cement is cut into grey tight stripes.
A system to collect rainwater and using it to water plants or other uses is installed. From roofs and terraces, the whole rainwater is conducted to an 8000 liters tank, enough for the fairly dry climate and this kind of house and plot. This simple environmental act, along with a placing the volume and its porch patio terrace attending the orientation, makes an easy to enjoy home for weekends and some holidays. Probably it could even be a permanent home for the elderly couple in a not so distant future.
