4 Social Housing Units in Garralda

The project has been defined with two fundamental objectives, on the one hand, its landscape integration in an environment as cared for as that of Garralda and the Aézcoa valley, and, on the other, to achieve the highest housing quality of the proposed homes.

After the analysis of the archetypal features of the traditional Basque-Navarrean “Caserío” (farmhouse), it was decided to divide the required program into two volumes, with steeply pitched roofs, whose proportions allow better adaptation to the volumetrics of the area. These two pieces are arranged in opposite directions to promote dialogue with the rural landscape. The choice of materials is sensitive and respectful with the environment. The exterior envelope is made with only two materials. White mortar, using the SATE system, is chosen as the finish of the façade. In gallery roofs and shutters, the material used is Lunawood Thermowood®, as a reinterpretation and recovery of the use of wooden tiles, typical of the Aézcoa valley. Both, roof and gallery, thus merge into a single element that gives the proposal its own identity. This reinterpretation of the archetype of the “Caserío” allows the connection of the proposal with the collective memory of the place.

In the exterior space of the plot, no physical limits have been defined, allowing it to be understood as a continuity of the surrounding nature, the intervention acting as a connector between the natural landscape and the village.

In the design of the dwellings, the maximum flexibility, adaptability, neutrality and spatial quality possible is sought, favoring different ways of living. There is one dwelling per floor in each of the volumes, on the first floor and under the roof, reserving the available space on the ground floor of both buildings for common uses. The cross-laminated timber structure is placed on the façade and on the separation partitions between dwellings and the common spaces, favoring changes in the useful life of the dwellings. All spaces are sized to be adapted to difficulties in the mobility of the inhabitant. Natural lighting and the arrangement of the openings is one of the most essential objectives that have been taken into account to ensure the quality of the interior space, as well as the provision of large outdoor terraces, which allow connection with the landscape of the area. The use of color and materials in the interior has been intentionally neutral, to facilitate the appropriation and characterization of the space for its inhabitants.

The proposal has also been designed taking into account criteria that improve its sustainability, not only at an energy level (for which the Passivhaus standard has been met), but also at an environmental level (reduction of the carbon footprint, maintenance of the water cycle, promotion of biodiversity), social (improvement of the quality of life and habitability conditions, linkage with the collective memory of the place), as well as economic (promotion of the circular economy).