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Architects: LIQE arquitectura
- Area: 3143 ft²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Roi Alonso
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Manufacturers: Klein, Baxi, Cortizo, Isover, Knauf, Placo
Text description provided by the architects. The project, which occupies a borderline situation between the human scale of the houses of the Historic Center and the defensive walled enclosure of the city, formalizes the change of scale through an incision performed in the original façade in continuity with the expansion of the plant higher.
A folding shutters system extends along the new façade, allowing both the building privacy and solar exposure to be regulated on demand. The façade comes alife in the daily movement of the pieces, making explicit a resurgence of a degraded neighborhood in refoundation.
The use of raw treated wood links the past and the future of the Old Town perfectly, justifying the colonization of the rest of the building, which extends to the basement allowing access to the garage. An intervention solution with a firm gesture and palpable constructive sincerity is chosen: the precise cut for vehicle access, essential for supporting a non-gentrifying REHABITATION of the former ruins, is practiced in full sight in a unified gesture with the addition from the top floor. The solution preserves the traditional rhythm of openings and emphasizes the containment of the land offered by the building itself, while formalizing a new scale for the building that integrates perfectly with the site.
Functionally, the backyard is used as a vertical and horizontal communication space. The main access to the dwellings is from the garden that communicates with the walled enclosure. Under a glazed roof, a wooden walkway is installed giving individual access to both properties and, in the background, to the spiral staircase that connects with the garage two levels below.
Both dwellings take advantage of the views and greater lighting of the enlarged plan to locate the day area. The light enters the interior filtered through the wooden slats, using the exit stairs to the terraces as a light balance.
The cons system perfectly achieves its goal: temperature regulation and privacy. An interior from where you can watch without being seen, enjoying a privileged garden with views in the center of the city.
The houses fit into a dimensional puzzle with one structural condition: the absence of central pillars to provide optimal maneuvering for cars in the garage. For this, a wall-beam was designed separating both dwellings on the second floor and serving as support for the upper slabs. Both stairs are used at their full height to general storage and service spaces in the homes. The bedrooms are located mainly with windows to the main façade.
Oak wood finishes and continuous lime and natural clay coatings are used, contrasting with stone, concrete and galvanized steel exteriors, with the counterpoint of carpentry and wooden shutters.
