El Bosque House / Ramon Esteve

Curated by ArchDaily

Architects: Ramon Esteve
Area: 608 m²
Year: 2014
Photographs:Mariela Apollonio
Construction: Construcciones Francés

Text description provided by the architects. The House in the Forest is settled in an extensive residential area. A large pine forest on the plot itself is the closest surroundings of the house. On the basis of four stone walls, we generate prismatic volumes that fragment the space, identifying each room. The interstitial area between the parts is covered by an element of wood, which acts as a distributor and connector between the spaces of the house.

Some prismatic volumes come out from the four stone sidewalls, thus enclosing the space and differentiating each room. The area between the rooms is covered by a timber roof acting as a hall and a connector.

VARIOUS DEGREES OF INTIMACY

The aim of the project is the creation of different outdoor areas linked to the interior rooms, according to their level of privacy. Each room has a different height in function of their use in the developing plant, except for the volume of the bedrooms. With This set-up a cross-shaped plan that arranges the external space is generated.

SPACE TOUR

PRESS

Two large stone walls protect the access. While the visitor comes in, the space becomes more permeable, allowing glances to the garden with the pool through the lattice of the kitchen porch.

ElEMENTS

A deck of wooden planks assembles the entrance to the house, giving the hall a very human scale. The materials, together with the raking lights through the longitudinal skylight produces a warm and cosy atmosphere. The wooden volumes act as distributor and connector of the different rooms, while open to all outdoor spaces. The other two volumes host the main bedroom, two bedrooms on the lower floor and a studio on the upper floor. The continuous porches lengthen the rooms, by creating outdoor areas that open and extend the rooms.

The masonry walls are combined with the carpentry of afrormosia wood to create a private and pleasant atmosphere. Some weathering steel lattices, operating as shutters on windows and porches, complete the materials’ palette. The shallow pool of water evokes a pond that is reflected in the housing and part of the vegetation.

The dining tables and the barbecue table have been specifically designed for this house, reproducing the scheme and philosophy of the house in composition of the legs. The interior design is based on the concepts of simplicity, noble materials, colors of harmony and a fluid visual connection with the outside nature.