Reform of a country house on the outskirts of a village in the Empordà (Catalonia) where the big country houses, surrounded by fields and fruit gardens, contrast to the detached houses proper for the urban tissue.
Multiple extensions were carried out in the existing house turned out in a tedious configuration with innumerable rooms without convenient light and ventilation.
The project starts with the fusion of the pre-existing volume using a previous patio in the first floor and opening a new one in the second. The latest one separates two large spaces in the center of the house that are conceived as the entrance hall and the swimming pool.
Only the main structure and the exterior envelope of the building are maintained. The main spatial strategy consists in interconnecting the spaces and opening them to the outside, introducing new courtyards and windows. New circulations are added to enhance the labyrinthine character of the house, providing a complexity that paradoxically improves the use of the house.
The volumes of stone and the broken white colour give a neutral image where materials play a crucial role in the spatial arrangement. The brown glazed coloured tile is the common thread that accompanies the inhabitant generating continuous surfaces that connect different spaces visually. The texture of the original restored ceramic bricks contrasts with the clean reflection of the new material.
The result is a house where you can live without having to leave. The landscape floods the interior through the windows and an inner labyrinth of rooms and courtyards sets off spaces to work, to eat, to rest, to read, to swim ...
