RMN

Terraces at the top

Valencia · Spain

A SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE IN A RESIDENTIAL BLOCK

Climb to the highest part of a hillside and stop to contemplate the extensive views from the top. The rest under the shade of an open terrace in front of a horizon clearly marked by the deep blue of the sea. A wide, enclosed exterior space that extends towards the interior of the dwelling through the large glass panels and towards the landscape through the water mirror of the swimming pool.

This accumulation of sensations that inevitably refer to the experience of the isolated dwelling, are pursued in the proposal of a residential block as a project premise. The paradox of pretending that a block unit reaches the spatial quality attributable to the villa can only be achieved through the conjunction of multiple architectural parameters: the width of the block, the double orientation, the relationship of interior and exterior spaces, the provision of swimming pools, the enjoyment of the views, the relationship with nature, the control of privacy…

Residential development Valencia
Housing development Valencia
Project - Gallardo Llopis Architect

TOPOGRAPHY – ACCESS AND CIRCULATION – VISUAL

The plot is located on the slope of the Los Monasterios urbanization, in the municipal district of Sagunto. Its elongated and irregular geometry responds to its condition of urban edge, configuring the steep boundary between the urbanised area and the natural space.

The rugged topography will, however, be the main characteristic of the place that will decisively mark the architectural morphology. Situated in a privileged location close to the summit, from its position it dominates its entire surroundings, impressing the strong viewpoint character that the intervention possesses.

The main access to the plot, both pedestrian and wheeled, is through the Paseo de los Monasterios. In order to prevent the areas of the accesses and the car park from being computed for building purposes, the entire floor is located below ground level, with semi-buried accesses that are partially hidden. This space also assumes the provision of storage rooms and the centralization of common facilities.

From this first buried level, three vertical communication cores give access to the dwellings, reducing as much as possible the surfaces of common elements and circulations. The three stairwells and elevator, with independent accesses, connect the different levels with sufficient flexibility to be able to respond to significant variations in floor plan.

The spectacular views that open southeast from the top of the summit unconsciously attract their contemplation. The project will overturn the main spaces of the dwellings towards this orientation, trying to raise the level of support of the building to gain, thanks to the greater height, the maximum possible field of vision. A panoramic sweep over the Turia river plain and the Mediterranean Sea.

Project - Gallardo Llopis Architect

ADAPTATION – TERRACES – SWIMMING POOLS

With a slope close to 35%, the steep rock wall allows the development of a work in a much more complex section, which brings spatial and volumetric richness to the proposal. The horizontal platforms adapt to the irregular topography of the slope in a staggered manner in line with the natural slope of the terrain.

The guiding forces emanating from the irregular geometry of the hillside are combined with the anthropomorphic limits of urban regulation to configure the definitive geometry of the proposal. The platforms widen in the central zone and narrow at the ends, breaking at inflection points until finally adapting to the conditions of intonation.

The experience of the single-family dwelling is closely linked to the enjoyment of an exterior space that becomes a direct continuation of the interiors. The terraces, which uninterruptedly border the glass envelope of the building, become the main space of opportunity for the dwellings. These surfaces are consciously equivalent to those of interior spaces, the limits of which are blurred by the flexible opening of the large glass cloths. Cantilevered platforms from which to savour the sublime spectacle of the infinite landscape.

Residential development Valencia
Residential development Valencia

CONTRASTING CROSS-VIEWS

The necessary stratification of this longitudinal volumetry in the different levels produces a marked horizontality in the piece, which will inevitably become a sign of formal identity of the building.

This horizontality manages to establish a relationship of passing spaces with orientation in both directions, strengthening not only the oblique visuals towards the mountain and the sea, but also the crossed east-west ventilations, introducing the breezes into the habitable space. At this point the premise is established of achieving the sensation of a single-family dwelling in each of the housing units that make up the block.

Residential development - Gallardo Llopis Architect
Residential development Valencia
Residential development Valencia

POOL

In order to strengthen the feeling of a single-family house, the premise is to provide each house with a private swimming pool. This specular surface, which reflects the skies dematerialising the edges, runs along the entire façade providing volumetric unity to the elevation and the powerful longitudinal image of the building. However, these are watertight glasses, individualised with pieces of glass that conceal the walls containing the waters with their tiny thickness. It is in this wide thickness of the walls where the collection of overflow waters is resolved with solvency, avoiding any type of interference between the different levels.

Turquoise sheets elevated with respect to the level of the pavement to which it is only possible to ascend through steps carved in stone, obtaining a rested access to an area on the beach, in a paused transition to the areas of greater depth. The clarity of this transparent edge forming the endless edge of the cantilever represents one of the greatest aesthetic contributions to the architectural image.

The experience of the single-family house is closely linked to the enjoyment of an exterior space that becomes a direct continuation of the interiors. The terraces, which uninterruptedly border the vitreous envelope of the building, become the main space of opportunity for the dwellings. These surfaces are consciously equivalent to the interior spaces, whose limits are blurred by the flexible opening of the large glass cloths. Cantilevered platforms from which to savour the sublime spectacle of the infinite landscape.

Residential development Valencia

INTERIOR

The interiors, worked with noble materials such as stone, wood, metals and textiles, are confused with exteriors that expand their limits through large mobile glass panels that open in the corners to absorb the views towards a landscape that becomes private.

The direct contact with the pre-existing pine forest manages to deepen the sensation of full integration with the natural environment, so that the crossed visuals achieved inside the dwellings have two magnificent backgrounds of perspective: the vibrant green of the trees rooted in the rocks and the intense blue of the sea fading into the horizon.