Eternal summer - A contemporary project that pays tribute to tradition, emphasising austerity and minimising aesthetic resources to create a place where time stands still and light, reflections and textures take centre stage.
From among all the works selected by the Official Associations of Architects, the jury for the 2022 Architecture Awards chose Can Bau as one of the finalists. This summer residence is home to three families who are ready to stop the clock and let themselves be carried away by eternal summer.
Can Bau is located in Moraira, a small town on the Costa Blanca with a fishing tradition and seven beaches. Historic buildings, fortified churches, castles and walls coexist with sandy and rocky beaches and hiking trails.
Entering Can Bau means having time, surrendering to calm and reliving the best of summer at any time of the year. As soon as you walk through the door, you discover a large window that connects us directly to the outside area, flanked by a patio, enhancing the connection between the interior and exterior spaces of the house. The continuous flooring becomes a common thread, inviting you to begin your journey through a house without hierarchies, where everything is shared.
The house is laid out on a single floor with two distinct areas. The night area houses the bedrooms and more private areas. The day area is designed as a large open space with high ceilings and a sloping roof, where the kitchen is located with an island overlooking the pool and a dining room dominated by a sofa almost 5 metres long in front of the wood-burning fireplace.
Built in a traditional manner, using manual methods and just four materials - continuous concrete flooring, lime mortar cladding, stone and ceramic - it blends in with the nature and habitat of the site.
The house adapts to the plot, which has a complex topography and a large slope, creating three platforms separated by just two steps, which differentiate the main uses: night area, day area and swimming pool.
The furniture in the wet areas, kitchen, barbecue and outdoor areas is made of built-in elements, appearing as annexed volumes that emanate from the floor and walls, clad in the same materials.
The interior and exterior furniture combines handcrafted elements, such as esparto lamps made in a local basketry workshop, with restored antique pieces or furniture created ad hoc with materials taken out of context, such as the 4-metre-long outdoor table, which is made from the same material as the swimming pool.
All the textiles in the house are in neutral tones, with a predominance of linen. The metalwork and accessories stand out against the neutral palette of the house, all in black, lending a more contemporary feel to the whole.
The result is delicate, unique and tranquil. A refuge that appeals to feelings of holism, warmth, calm and belonging. Because, as the project's technical team points out, ‘the important thing at Can Bau is not how or where, but with whom’.
