Narrow House

Want: a family home with garden, swimming pool, space for guests, large walls for paintings, PLUS a studio with up to 6 work spaces, integrated and at the same time well separated from the private space. Got: a plot of 236m2 in urban area with 3-4m clearance to boundaries according to regulations. Act: try to turn limitations into opportunities, find solutions as if you were doing a puzzle and have fun designing! To make a building of 4.75m width and 13m length not look narrow might be impossible. Nevertheless, interiors were supposed to be spacious and generous. Time to rethink traditional systems! So we came up with a façade concept that occupies only 18cm and offers perfect insulation for both cold and heat. Columns are visible in the interior. The relation between in and out is very much perceptible in the whole building. Due to its proportions, you may see the sun rise and set without leaving the room. Interaction between life on the street and life inside the house is continuous but unobtrusive. The topography of the site is used to separate the private and non-private areas by designing two different accesses at different levels. Structural elements are displayed in the material they are made of, so the stairs connecting the three levels of the living area appear as a folded steel panel, and the rivets that hold the wooden façade elements create a visible geometric pattern. Large windows at ground level give the building a touch of weightlessness. Images: Pablo Casares Photography