arquitectos Archives

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos references pathways for Sabater House in Spain

Spanish studio Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has created a minimalist white house in Alicante, which winds through the landscape to enhance its relationship with the outdoors.

Named Sabater House, the Spanish dwelling unfolds through a series of intersecting, elongated forms that ascend upwards over its 780-square-metre site.

Its slim volumes adapt to the site’s natural topography, navigating existing large trees and framing a series of terraces and courtyards.

Aerial view of Sabater House by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos — Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has created a minimalist white house in Alicante

According to Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, the sprawling design takes cues from local pathways that are carved into the terrain and lead to a hermitage.

“We were struck by how these winding paths adapt to the terrain, generating a very interesting architecture,” Fran Silvestre Arquitectos told Dezeen.

“This was the starting point to develop a home on a plot with similar characteristics in terms of width and slope of the land.”

Facade of Sabater House by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos — Sabater House winds through the landscape

Sabater House is designed for a client who wanted a home to accommodate his large family while ensuring “enough independence to guarantee the privacy of all family members”.

To accomplish this, each floor of the home features a distinct programme.

Aerial view of white home in Alicante — Each floor of the home features a distinct programme

The highest level, described as the “nighttime area” of the home, features five bedrooms and bathrooms oriented to look out to the sea above the tree line.

Meanwhile, the middle floors contain an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area with floor-to-ceiling windows framing views out to the garden and outdoor swimming pool.

Exterior of white house in Spain by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos — The house winds around existing trees

The living spaces are stretched across the long and narrow floor plan in a bid to avoid compacting them and open them up to the outdoors.

“The project is drawn with a very clear geometry of straight elements that are joined by a soft radius of curvature,” said the studio. “Each piece has a relationship with the environment.”

Accommodated on the lower level are the pool basin, a wine cellar, storage facilities and additional sleeping quarters.

With each floor stacked at an angle to create a zigzagging floor plan, a series of courtyards, terraces and bridges are created, further opening the relationship with the outdoors.

All-white interior of Spanish house — The middle floor features open-plan living spaces

“Something unexpected about the house for us is the character of the interstitial spaces between the blocks and how they envelop you,” explained Fran Silvestre Arquitectos.

“The first acts as an access garden that directs you towards the entrance door, and the second as one of the main terraces. They are versatile spaces that allow you to make the most of the different orientations.”

Bedroom of Sabater House in Alicante — The top level contains the bedrooms

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos was founded in 2005 by architect Fran Silvestre. The studio is known for its minimalist style, which is applied throughout Sabater House.

Its previous projects that feature its signature pared-back style include an overhanging Hollywood Home and a residence with a T-shaped roof in Valencia.

The photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Reference

Architecture

Balzar Arquitectos nestles La Casa de los Olivos into Valencian olive grove

By Zarkon Group,03/07/2023

Spanish studio Balzar Arquitectos has added a copper-toned family house named La Casa de los Olivos to an olive grove in Valencia, Spain.

Aiming to blend into its site in the town of Quesa, the long and low-lying home has been finished with a red-hued lime mortar that mimics the surrounding soil.

Balzar Arquitectos also preserved as much of the existing planting as possible by designing the house with a linear form that fits within a grid of trees.

Swimming pool outside of La Casa de los Olivos in Valencia by Balzar Arquitectos — Balzar Arquitectos has added a copper-toned house to an olive grove

“The landscape was already wonderful as it was, so when it came to the intervention, we wanted to respect this place, trying to keep as many olive trees as possible,” said studio co-founder Laura Moreno Albuixech.

“We wanted to create a dialogue between the natural and the artificial, between the olive trees and the house,” Moreno Albuizech told Dezeen.

Built with a steel frame, the copper-toned home is nestled into the gaps of the eight-by-eight-metre grid of trees. Inside, rooms are arranged across a single floor.

Person standing on opening of red-toned house in Spain — La Casa de los Olivos is designed to blend in with its surroundings

“The olive trees are arranged in a perfect grid of eight by eight metres and this was a key factor in the geometry of the house,” said Moreno Albuixech.

“Both the house and the swimming pool take advantage of the free spaces left in the grid of olive trees and insert themselves between them.”

Patio outside La Casa de los Olivos in Valencia — Its red exterior mimics the colour of soil nearby

Running down the centre of a gravelled courtyard is a long swimming pool. It extends towards the main building, curving to meet a porch that is covered by an overhang perforated with a circular skylight.

A large glass door separates this porch from the open living space, which extends into a dining area and kitchen with green-toned cupboards and brass surfaces.

“The muted green colour of the leaves of the olive trees was used for the woodwork and the gold of the sun at sunset was reinterpreted in the kitchen with natural brass,” said Moreno Albuixech.

Throughout the home, red walls and accents mimic the soil-informed colour of the exterior, including terracotta-toned floors and Iranian travertine marble surfaces that feature in the bathrooms and interior pool.

Interior of Spanish house by Balzar Arquitectos — The reddish tones continue inside the home

“The choice of materials and colours was clear from the beginning,” said Moreno Albuixech. “Both the clients and we were looking for colours that respected the chromatic range that the plot already had when we visited it for the first time.”

Two ensuite bedrooms branch off from the main living space and open onto private patios that frame views of the surrounding olive trees.

Bedroom of La Casa de los Olivos in Valencia — Green elements mirror the leaves of the olive trees

“The home integrates with the rural environment through patios that embrace the existing olive trees and a longitudinal platform that reinforces the linear perspective towards the horizon,” said the studio.

“Through the patios, the olive trees and the wide terrain become part of the dwelling and lives of the people.”

Other Spanish homes recently featured on Dezeen include a narrow home designed for indoor and outdoor living and a house spread across six pavilions arranged around a courtyard.

The photography is by David Zarzoso.

Reference

Architecture

ERRE Arquitectos designs Chilean house overlooking the Pacific Oceans

By Zarkon Group,15/03/2023

Chilean studio ERRE Arquitectos has constructed Casa Ferran, a low-profile holiday house in Matanzas on the coast of Chile.

Raimundo Gutiérrez of ERRE Arquitectos designed the 240-square-metre (2,580-square-foot) residence as a U-shape on the edge of a cliff that limits the buildable area of the 2,200-square-metre site, as it drops steeply down to the Pacific Ocean.

Exterior of a one-storey open-plan home with glazed walls overlooking the sea — The home is located on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean

Gutiérrez considered three main factors when laying out the plan: creating an exterior zone that is protected from the prevailing southwestern wind, maintaining privacy on the north and south sides, and taking full advantage of the sea views.

To accomplish this, the U-shaped plan points away from the ocean with a protected central courtyard on the high side of the slope, which connects to the sea through the fully glazed common area.

A U-shaped home on a hillside overlooking the sea — The home has a U-shaped layout

“What the project seeks is to generate a transversal and permeable axis in the east-west direction, which connects two exterior areas with dissimilar characteristics through the interior common area,” the studio told Dezeen.

“The rest of the program is arranged to contain and give shape to this axis.”

Interior of an open-plan home with large glass sliding doors opening to decking overlooking the sea — Sliding glass doors in the living area open onto a covered patio

Two wings are located on either side of the central volume – one containing three bedrooms and two planted atriums, the other angled outwards to catch the covered parking area that feeds into the service zones and guest bedroom.

The central volume containing the kitchen, dining, and living spaces is see-through and light-filled, with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides and sliding glass doors that extend the space onto a covered patio that runs parallel to the sea.

Set on a board-formed concrete foundation, the house is primarily constructed out of black-coloured steel, creating strong framing lines along the form and around the expansive glazing.

The exterior cladding is vertical one-inch by two-inch pine boards that provide a tonal variation along the north and south facades – which are a cut-off diamond shape as the house accommodates the sloped site – and transitions into a lattice for the parking area.

Outdoor garden of an open-plan home with large glass sliding doors overlooking the sea — Black steel forms the home’s structure

On the interior, a soft white palette and warm wood flooring amplify the scale of the rooms and allow the surrounding sea view to be the focal point of each space.

The home’s arrangement brings sunlight into each room, maximizing passive heating from the coastal climate in both the summer and winter.

Interior of an open-plan living space with sliding glass doors leading to a grass garden — Light wood flooring and white painted walls and ceilings finish the interior

“To complement and achieve higher temperatures during the coldest days, there is a wood-burning fireplace in the common space and central heating radiators throughout the house,” the studio said.

The end of each wing has a planted green roof.

“The design responds to elements of organic architecture,” the studio said. “However, formally rigid features appear, which are the result of several variables, conditions and demands that were presented.”

Exterior of a timber-clad home with a sloped roof and rectangular opening — Pine boards clad the exterior

Similar to Casa Ferran, Chilean architect Juan Pablo Ureta designed a beach house on Chile’s northern coast that is oriented around a central courtyard, however, this one opens toward the sea.

In El Pangue, architecture studios Combeau Arquitectura and Andrea Murtagh designed an ocean getaway with clustered gabled forms.

The photography is by Nicolás Saieh.

Project credits:

Architect and constructor: Raimundo Gutiérrez
Structure: Joaquin Valenzuela
Project Manager and carpenter: Guillermo Chamorro

Reference

arquitectos

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos references pathways for Sabater House in Spain

Balzar Arquitectos nestles La Casa de los Olivos into Valencian olive grove

ERRE Arquitectos designs Chilean house overlooking the Pacific Oceans

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