Located on the beachfront in Daimús, a coastal town in Valencia, Spain, Almar Suites was designed to create functional, serene architecture with a distinct identity, capable of meeting demanding urban planning requirements in a setting where life is shaped by the Mediterranean.

Orienting every apartment towards the sea

The building's organisation stems from one essential decision: orient every apartment towards the sea and develop a layout that ensures cross-ventilation in each unit. The programme is complemented on the ground floor by a gym, coworking area, laundry and storage spaces, with a swimming pool and parking area outdoors.

This configuration forms the basis of the project's passive environmental strategy. By allowing air to move through each apartment, the layout promotes natural ventilation and can reduce reliance on mechanical cooling during suitable periods of the year. 

The brief called for functional apartments, resilient enough to withstand intensive use while making the most of every square metre. Rather than adding more elements, the response was to focus the project on a limited number of decisions capable of addressing several needs simultaneously.

Efficiency was understood not as a constraint, but as an opportunity to create calm, restrained architecture, free from unnecessary gestures, where rest becomes part of the programme.

Terraces and screens for solar control

Rather than reinterpreting the Mediterranean through decorative elements, the project seeks to recover some of the principles that have historically defined its architecture: light-filled spaces, cross-ventilation, generous terraces, shade, honest materials and a constant relationship between indoors and outdoors. An architecture where simplicity is not a compromise, but a way of responding to the place.

The terraces contribute to this environmental approach by creating depth along the facades and acting as transitional spaces between the apartments and the exterior. Their projection provides solar protection, while concrete block screens further filter solar radiation and provide shade and privacy without preventing natural airflow. 

Materials for durability and maintenance

Emphasis on efficiency also extends to material selection and maintenance. The project uses a reduced palette of construction solutions selected for durability, ease of maintenance and resistance to intensive use, particularly relevant to a tourist apartment building. 

The repetition of solutions across the 40 apartments reduces the number of different materials, systems and construction details required. Standardising these elements simplifies construction and subsequent maintenance while facilitating the repair or replacement of components during the building's lifespan.

The passive measures are complemented by high-efficiency air-conditioning systems and heat pumps for domestic hot water production. An on-site photovoltaic installation generates renewable electricity, reducing the building's reliance on grid-supplied electricity.

Solar-control glazing is used throughout the apartments in combination with the Cortizo 4200 sliding system. Guardian Sun® glazing contributes solar control while maintaining natural light transmission, forming part of the building envelope's response to the Mediterranean climate. The glazing works together with the shaded terraces and screens rather than functioning as an isolated energy-efficiency measure.

Designing for the building's lifespan

Almar Suites is a new-build project, and adaptive reuse was not part of its design approach. The building was also not specifically conceived according to design-for-disassembly principles, so its construction should not be presented as a circular-economy or material-recovery strategy.

The emphasis instead falls on durability, maintenance and replaceability. Repeated apartment layouts and standardised construction solutions can simplify interventions when individual elements require repair or replacement. These measures support the building's long-term use without making an unsupported claim about future conversion or material recovery.