The project is located on the top a hill in the Basque Country .
The footprint of the original farm is 23 meters. x 23 meters square and it used to be divided in four equal parts, four families were living on this farm .
The new house accomodates the life of one family .
From the very first design phase the goal was to create a contemporary home , preserving the charm of the Basque farm, through the materiality use don the project .
The house has a totally new inner structure adapted to the new inner functions. The exterior North and South facades are built in stone , re-using the old stones from the original house , with a new composition allowing facade openings wherever we consider more iteresting for the new inner spaces .
A house is generally described by “Four walls and a roof”
On this project we define it as “Four parallel walls and a roof”
The House has a big volumen and we thought of dividing it into three clearly defined parts, as a way to be able to control de temperature (climate control) of each space.
This idea will be shown on the exterior where the two parallel facades (north and south) will be distinguished from the rest by being entirely built in stone .
The idea is to emphasize the monumentality and the presence of the south facade , since it is very visible from many different points .
The interior is divided in three parts :
The central part is the welcoming area .
The central courtyard , full of greenery and trees, is connecting visually and physically the different levels of the house .
The steps , are built in solid wooden plank , the craftsmanship / artisanal details on the handrail and the light coming through the skylight will be defining the space .
The South area , facing the views, accommodates the living room on the Groundfloor and the bedrooms on the upper floors.
The North area will is a beautiful high ceiling flexible space that acts as an atelier/art space .
The simplicity and the elegance of the materials.
Wooden oak floor, stone, stucco, solid wooden beams with a white background
The soft transition between the inside and the outside
A new intervention that shows the desire to understand respectfully our heritage and a very particular context, but also shows the responsibility and the determination to propose new ideas and a new vision that looks forward and is aiming to imagine how the basque architectural culture could evolve.
*Note: Respecting or paying tribute a building or a City doesn’t mean not interviening or just copying how it was done some centuries back.
It means trying to give a new life to the space , able to connect and inspire the citizens of that particular moment in history.
