Nature House / COTAPAREDES Arquitectos

Text description provided by the architects. The project takes its name due to the strategy of adapting to the nature of the topography and the solar orientation of the property. In this type of project where the possibilities are limited, we respond to the needs of the clients. Generally, they ask us for a ground floor bedroom with a full bathroom that we decided to give double duty so that it serves both for the use of the bedroom and for the guests. For us, it is essential that this bedroom has a controlled relationship to the outside, so we continually seek to generate a patio that provides good lighting and ventilation and at the same time privacy. We believe that privacy is not a luxury but a necessity of human beings.

Something that has allowed the project to evolve in the way of living is small but significant details; Separating the laundry room from the kitchen as was done in the traditional way allows us to maximize the breadth of the social areas. Due to this, we opted to take the laundry room to the second level linked to a multipurpose space that the clients originally requested in a basement, but analyzing the negative slope of the land that ends with the perimeter wall of the subdivision which we could not modify in height, We decided to propose a descending section by sending the social piece backward and at the same time gain a height and a half of 4.10 m.

Looking for privacy and adequate control of the northern light, we decided to compress the opening by means of a structural beam towards a patio that generates a buffer for the light and noise towards the avenue. The light that is generated will be of a bluish and nuanced tone due to the north orientation and to the fact that we extended the white marble floor, covering the patio in its entirety except for a space for a thousand-year-old olive tree.

The house as a piece seeks a stereotomic language where the mass predominates and the piece is firmly implanted on the earth. The front façade responds to the solar orientation by means of a screen wall that blocks the rays from the south, reducing the temperature of the rooms facing the front. The combination of three materials, white concrete, a cement flat with white paint and a stone pavement give the façade an austere but elegant character.