A hundred-year-old fig tree, a difference in level between the street and the garden and the humility of the neighbouring buildings guide the project.

The project decided to fit the house between the slope and the fig tree, respecting it and giving it prominence. The day program is concentrated on the semi-basement floor, with direct connection to the garden and a patio that contains the fig tree and allows cross ventilation. The rest of the programme is located in a small building with a ground floor and a floor that closes the complex of flats, giving them a certain volumetric homogeneity.

 A small volume on the ground floor allows a double height of the living room to enhance the view of the fig tree, integrating it into the interior, and at the same time generates a filter towards the three-storey building that it has as a neighbour.

The space between these two volumes is where the access to the house occurs, as an exterior entrance courtyard from the street, integrating the fig tree and preserving the views. A covered staircase connects directly to the garden without passing through the interior, pointing the way for friends and occasional visitors.

Topographic Adaptability

The house recognises the difference in level between the street and the garden and places the day area (living-dining-kitchen and multipurpose play area) in direct connection with the garden, following the existing slope with hardly any earthworks.

Non-hierarchical typology

The rest of the house, for two adults and two children, is distributed as spaces of the same size, without hierarchy, on both sides of the staircase and sharing a single toilet. 

Spaces without defined use are allowed, on the access floor a space that can be an office, study, guest room, ... -On the garden floor a multipurpose shared area (playground, study area...). 

Thanks to the sloping roof section, the ceiling of the washbasin is used for a play space for children, recovering the concept of a tree hut.

Relationship with the context

The neighbouring buildings are humble, unpretentious and with a certain air of self-construction. An honest construction system of double reinforced concrete block sheet with insulation is proposed, replacing the outer sheet with a Sate cladding from the first floor, integrating the building into the built environment. Likewise, the height of the buildings from the street and the garden is respected.

The volume of floor and floor closes the group of houses existing in the street. Retracted, the ground floor volume that allows the double space of the living room, dialogues with the building in front of the street that cuts the typology of the street, while protecting the pedestrian access from the direct views of the neighbours.

Specifications

The economical construction system of load-bearing walls and exposed working roofs allows adaptation to the economic possibilities of the customers. It is proposed to carry out an honest construction with high thermal inertia, leaving the materiality of the construction elements visible. We like the idea of being able to make responsible architecture and with quality spaces for the entire population.

Sustainability

The existence of a hundred-year-old fig tree is respected as an initial environmental commitment and we intend to give it prominence.

The porches on the garden floor and the bacons on the ground and first floor protect from the sun in summer, and solar radiation is controlled with the use of rope shutters typical of vernacular constructions. 

The block walls together with the concrete pavement provide a great thermal inertia. And the rear courtyard with the fig tree favours cross ventilation, achieving a passive house with good environmental behaviour. A double-height fireplace helps mitigate the layering of double space.