El Recer
El Recer is located on a sloping plot that descends to a torrent.
It breaks up to interlink with the outdoor spaces and falls naturally to make the most of the views. This house, designed for a family of five, was conceived as a private refuge close to the street and open to the exterior space from the secondary facade.
The proposal presents a totally watertight main façade with its back to the street.
It is a massive concrete volume that is opaque to the public area and opens onto the plot once it is crossed. The house is divided into different volumes that decrease in size as they enter the plot, filling the space next to the street and emptying the free space. These volumes rest on the land’s natural slope, generating small gradients between them. In this way, the pieces fallgently, generating crossed views of one piece over the others.
Precast concrete is used as the backbone of sustainable and durable architecture.
This material is worked organically and carefully, drawing curves to organise routes. The house has an industrialised system in structure and envelope through 2D prefabricated concrete walls. We wanted to benefit from a noble material, such as mass concrete, to show all its strength and weight in the opaque access façade. It is also used to mark the different heavy volumes supported on the ground and drilled to let the views in.
The house’s programme consists of large spaces with huge east-facing openings, protected from the sun but totally linked to the green space.
The access space to the house is resolved using a descending path that leads the visitor to the house’s threshold, offering shelter. In the manner of a cave, two curved walls invite the visitor to enter the entrance porch under a large piece of opaque concrete.
Once this large door opens, the house welcomes us inside with a totally open-plan space full of light.
The entrance hall, with a sizeable slatted window and a height of 3 metres, opens up entirely to the central part of the day area. The home’s staircase descends into this entrance hall as a sculptural piece of steel and wood. It becomes the main character of the house while fulfilling its function of structuring all the spaces.
The project plays with this idea of shelter, of refuge. Thus its Valencian name, El Recer.
A few steps down lead to the day area.
The living, dining and kitchen area is entirely open, with views to the outside. On one side, a large porch with big windows. On the other, to a private enclosed terrace. This ample space is the heart of the house.
The rest of the rooms resolve a family programme, with an area for bedrooms and bathrooms, another for visitors, and a final area for an office, laundry, and storage.
CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
[ Furniture ]
Arnau Reyna sofa for Annud | Santiago Sevillano armchair for Annud | Jaime Hayón rug for Nani Marquina
[ Pieces of art ]
Lara Ordoñez art for Galería Vangar | Misc ceramic pieces
