Phase:
2017-2018 |  Built

Location:
Bugarra | Valencia
Photography | Milena Villalba · architectural photography & Héctor Rubio · Images Positive

Finalist in the COACV awards 2019

It is about the rehabilitation of a house formed by layers of time. Each generation had been adding fragments to this former house, so that the mediterranean ‘patio house’ nearly couldn’t be recognized anymore. The project arises with this fundamental idea: to recover life around the patio and give back the clear environment and its former landscape.

The rest of the space was organized by light. The house is moved to the first and second floors so that the ground floor can be occupied by the family bussiness. The previous succession of enclosed rooms becomes a fluid and changing space for each inhabitant to occupy his place.

(…)when we push open a door, we transform a place in a very insidious way. We offend its full extension, and introduce a disruptive and poorly proportioned obstacle. If you think about it carefully, there is nothing uglier than an open door. An open door introduces a break in the room, a sort of provincial interference, destroying the unity of space. In the adjoining room it creates a depression, an absolutely pointless gaping hole adrift in a section of wall that would have preferred to remain whole. In either case a door disrupts continuity, without offering anything in exchange other than freedom of movement, which could easily be ensured by another means. Sliding doors avoid such pitfalls and enhance space. Without affecting the balance of the room, they allow it to be transformed. When a sliding door is open, two areas communicate without offending each other. When it is closed, each regains its integrity. Sharing and reunion can occur without intrusion. Life becomes a quiet stroll(…)

Phase:
2018 | First prize. Competiton for the ‘ Renovation and Extension of Montserrat City Hall, refurbishment of the former farmhouse, extension of the east and west wing and design of the gardens‘

2019 | Proyecto básico y de ejecución

Location:
Montserrat | Valencia
Team: Carpe studio, Crux arquitectos, Anna Solaz

The farmhouse of San José, built in the mid-nineteenth century, was a vast farm where a large number of day laborers worked. The house had wineries and a cellar, an oil mill and a large seedbed for the cultivation of the silkworm. Attached to the farmhouse, the different economic dependencies appeared, like the disappeared lateral pavilions, of which only the south walls located on the ground floor and the hermitage remain.

The contest proposes refurbishing this farmhouse to become the seat of the City Hall, while reconstructing the east and west wings that once occupied the site, as well as the design of the front and rear gardens.

The project arises from the desire to preserve the outline of the original building, reconstructing the volume that occupied the historical set and to emphasize the characteristic elements of the ‘Masia’. Proposing an intervention with the least possible impact on its constructive system and its spatial configuration are the criteria that guides us through the whole intervention.

The administrative program that has to house the new City Council is mainly assumed by the lateral wings and the farmhouse becomes the central element that articulates the two lateral bodies, thus becoming a center of activity. The layout of the spaces of the ‘Masía’ are extended towards the lateral buildings in which the same grid configuration, the three bays layout, appear.

The lateral wings that completed the Masía reappear in the proposal and a singular element, a skylight, is introduced on the roof in response to current needs. This skylight allows to illuminate, ventilate, heat, cool down and produce the energy that the building consumes. The skylight functions as a passive ventilation mechanism and introduces natural light that from the very top organises the rest of the space.

Phase:
2015 | First Prize. International Workshop Rise New York ‘

Location:
325 E 25th street, New York
Team: Alejandra Ruano, Christian Messeguer, Anna Solaz

Living in the city does not only mean living in a housing block between other blocks, it means living in-between the city’s consolidated fabric and becoming part of its cultural background and history. It is the place where our everyday lives get their own special meaning, where we experience freedom and privacy and where we can express our identity.

Therefore, in a city, even more important than buildings are the public spaces in between them. Streets and amenities are some of the most valuable resources the city has. These places play a crucial role in social interaction. It is the setting where our daily life takes place, and the more varied, rich and full of possibilities is this space, the more you will be able to gather people, having diversity and activity… letting people participate in their public space, feeling more identified and encouraging social relations among users.

This proposal focuses on the creation of a public space in itself. The key element in the project is the open space that flows through the block and into the street, continues and penetrates the building in all of its height.
 
By breaking its volumetric configuration in both directions, we are able to create public spaces that are understood as urban prolongations, becoming part of the city’s social framework. The building fades into three towers, adapting itself to the adjacent crowning heights and seeking optimal implantation in terms of sunlight, views and orientation.

The In-between: the encounter and reconciliation between the street on the one hand and a private domain on the other”.  Herman Hertzberger