There are landscapes capable of capturing human eagerness. Characters so strong you are found listening to what they ask for, and there is no option rather than complying. Casa Port is placed within an exceptional intersection of nature that brings together the natural reservation of Cap de Creus, the Mediterranean sea and the unique Tramuntana. Like Nacho Alegre states in The Modern Architecture of Cadaqués: “It’s a landscape that feels like it was left unfinished. It’s rough and sharp and clark, it might be beautiful, but it’s not always nice.”
UNDERSTANDING CAP DE CREUS’ TOPOGRAPHY
AND FINDING A WAY TO WELCOME NATURAL ADVERSITIES
The Cap de Creus’ natural reservation is an area of pure and rough beauty defined by the Tramuntana, the characteristic north wind that has given such a strong perception of the cape’s localities.
Rather than looking for ways to avert these natural conditions, Casa Port is willing to understand and embrace them; it’s an exploration of how to accept and welcome a hostile landscape. The house itself has been thought of as a single ground floor structure according to the local aesthetics and law, and its irregular shape comes from a will to make Tramuntana flow through its walls, not hitting them, accepting its existence instead of trying to avoid it.
The wall structure of Casa Port aims to delve into the environment and embrace the natural surroundings. All windows have been placed with a purpose: looking north, they seek to enclose the fascinating views of Cap de Creus, while on the other side, windows give an intimate view of what is occurring within the house limits and a glimpse of the inside when approaching it.
GETTING AROUND THE HOUSE AND WELCOMING GUESTS
Casa Port has been designed to craft different experiences depending on the end-user. As a result, it comes off as functional and comfortable to its owners but welcoming and inspiring to its guests. Two entrances have been created to help shape these perceptions: the primary and the secondary access.
The way to get around the house daily is through the secondary access: the garage. It’s on the opposite side of the main access, which happens to be the lowest part of the house. It’s an immediate entry that allows a more convenient use of the space and facilitates day-to-day life.
On the other side, the house aims to set visitors into the delving environment. When arriving, they follow the same path as owners but eventually take on the primary access. This entrance has been thought of as a way to experience the beauty of Cap de Creus’ landscape and its severity through a set of stairs that climb up the rock formation where the house is placed. When reaching the top, visitors are welcomed by the terrace area and the pool, which overviews both sides of Casa Port.
AN ODE TO STONE: USING CAP DE CREUS’ LOCAL MATERIALS
AND CONSTRUCTION TRADITION
For centuries, the Mediterranean rural landscape has been shaped by the dry stone construction system, which holds aesthetic, historical, and ethical values.
In order to follow the local construction traditions and regulations of the Cap de Creus area, Casa Port walls are built using this methodology. In this type of architecture, stone pieces fit together by their own weight and present different construction typologies. It is a simple and immediate method usually based on the use of local materials found near the construction site.
The stones used in Casa Port’s walls come from the abundant excess of rocks extracted from the garage, which not only complies with the tradition and laws of the area but allows the house to have a low environmental impact during its building process as well.
