Location
Garraf (Sitges, Barcelona)
Use
Single-family house on ground floor
Surface
72 sqm
Year
2021 – 2022
Status
Built
Description
The village of Garraf is located a few kilometres south of Barcelona, enclosed between a small nautical port, a rock landscape which is characteristic of the area, and a few small picturesque beaches.
The house, located in the centre of the village with its little white houses, but at the same time bordering the train tracks, is on the ground floor of a small building of rather poor construction. Although it is semi-detached, it benefits from a third façade thanks to a small passage that crosses the row of houses. Someone took the opportunity to create a second entrance through that passage.
The client, who was used to living on a sailboat in the same port, was looking for: Comfort, optimisation (to make the most of every corner) and flexibility (to find the ideal configuration of the spaces according to the needs of the moment).
The construction had been suffering some improvised modifications and the interior had been subdivided, to the point of splitting it into two independent units. The moisture, the lack of ventilation, the absence of insulation and the proximity of the train tracks were issues that needed to be urgently resolved. The project is based on decisions that aim to renovate the building and increase comfort in a passive way, in order to reduce energy consumption in the future.
The first decision is to create new openings in the wall that formerly divided the space in order to achieve cross ventilation throughout the house. This decision will also set the guideline for the new interior layout and, on the other hand, will offer much longer views that will also visually connect openings on opposite façades.
Secondly, it was decided to thermally and acoustically insulate the 3 façades on the inside (due to the impossibility of doing so on the outside) and also to level the entire floor, taking advantage of the need to insulate and impermeabilize the entire floor, which was on 2 different levels, dividing the interior into 2 spaces at different heights.
With the new pavement on the same level and the new openings in the interior wall, we proposed a fluid configuration of the spaces, accumulating all the 'static' pieces (kitchen units, wardrobes...) in a central strip without them conditioning the spaces they complement and allowing you to walk around them. A system of integrated sliding doors will help ensure that the different configurations are effective.
The materiality seeks to simplify a certain complexity of interior elements and at the same time to connect with the tones and atmosphere of a Mediterranean summer village with a fishing past.
Architecture
Länk Arquitectes
Client
Private
Works
Casa Teva Reformes S.L.
Photos
Pol Masip (Context and result)
Länk Arquitectes (previous condition, process)
