Benimaclet was an orchard village that was absorbed by the city of Valencia in the second half of the last century. In this village houses coexist with small-scale multi-family buildings, as is the case here: a three-storey building, made up of 6 dwellings, which, on the ground floor and through a central access, gives access in the block courtyard to two-storey constructions belonging to each of the dwellings in the building. The intervention that we present consists of the reconstruction of one of these buildings, belonging to one of the dwellings on the ground floor, and its connection with it. The low construction quality and the habitability problems of this building advised its demolition and volumetric reconstruction.
Objectives of the intervention:
- Overturning the dwelling to the courtyard, landscaped courtyard with a tree, vines and upholstery. The kitchen is located in the room connecting the house to the pavilion, turning the patio into the central piece of the house, both functionally and spatially.
- Control the views between the annexed pavilion and the dwellings on the upper floors and protect the pavilion from excessive sunshine in summer.
- Use only natural materials taking full advantage of their texture to leave them uncoated. The entire intervention gravitates over three elements: baked clay, white walls and wood.
Use of terracotta:
- Pavements and wall cladding made with mechanised pieces of terracotta of two sizes: 24x12x3 cm. and 24x5,5x3 cm. with a rig that combines both sizes. In the most vulnerable areas of the humid premises these same pieces have been enamelled in white, prior to their placement, by the same owner of the dwelling who has a degree in Fine Arts.
- Revoltones of the slabs made with curved Mallorcan vault supported on metal beams.
- Ceramic latticework made with the piece Square Latticework, measuring 20x20x8 cm, specially cut for this work at 45º, achieving a slanted piece that gives the latticework a greater frontal opacity and a directionality that allows the NE orientation to be chosen because it provides the best views from inside the pavilion.
