UP78, CASA SERENA

LocationLa Cañada

Built-up area256 sqm per dwelling

Year2023

PhotographerSonia Sabnani

Two houses located in a flood-prone area next to a boulevard with an old torrent running through it.

The pieces are raised off the ground to prevent water ingress and to generate the frames that draw the boxes.

In a wooded area near Valencia, there is a torrent next to which the buildings must be placed, creating a distance from the land. On one of these plots, a house is supported by prisms raised off the ground to prevent water from entering, generating the boxes’ frames.

The volumetry of the house arises from the need to look out over the existing views on the first floor towards a large pine grove. On the other hand, these pieces turn 90 degrees on the ground floor to generate good use of the plot with a north-south orientation—the lower tablets are in one direction, and the upper capsule is supported in the opposite direction.

The minimalism in the shapes of the precast concrete wall prisms is shown in the constructive sincerity of the edges of the exposed concrete slabs. This creates a succession of porches with the pieces joined together to generate pronounced projections to take advantage of the exterior uses.

The access to the house is located in the central box. On entering it, through a large wooden gate, the view opens up to the rear part of the plot through the vertical communication staircase. This central piece separates the main daytime uses from the secondary ones.

On one side, the living-dining room is visually linked to the kitchen in the last of the rooms. Both take advantage of the boxes, extending them to generate porches for outdoor use next to the swimming pool. A secondary bedroom and the garage are on the other side of the access room.

On the first floor, the east-west orientation of the room organises the bedroom suite on one side and two parallel bedrooms on the other. To the west are the main views over a large pine forest, towards which the main bedroom is directed. The intense sunlight is controlled using a sizeable empty porch on which removable elements can be placed in the future, both on one side and the other.