Firm： GANA Arquitectura

Type： Residential › Private House

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2020

SIZE： 3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

Photos： Francisco Torreblanca (24)

Sometimes architecture gets a much more delicated nuance than usual, and this house is a great example of it. From the very beginning the idea of the client was to increase the value of an old-fashioned building with very interesting views. Thus, the best approach seemed to be the one where the whole house would be renovated in order to get an updated and more appealing product.

However, after analizing carefully the project, the diagnosis concluded that the main lack was about the connection between the house and its outside areas. Differences of levels between the main floor and the pool garden, due to the sloped topography, created a huge functional gap among areas. That's the reason why, from kind of a surgerical point of view, the most efficient solution here was not the renovation, but the specific modification of its perimeter. This way the outside areas could be extended at the same level and also create a simple connection toward the garden.

Thereby, the budget was optimized considerably after focusing the whole resources on the extension of the basement, in order to create a new terrace as an extension of the living room area. A simple gesture that multiplies dramatically the opportunities of the existing rooms, by removing this virtual barrier raised along the years over the inside-outside limit of the house.

Aesthetically speaking, the project was completed by the new skin built around this extension of the house. It was not necessary to remove or even modify the existing facades, but to sieve them through a contemporary fashioned filter designed to enhance the contrast between both the traditional and modern elements, as an ultimate strategy to increase the value of this property.

The result has captured the promoter wish and also reinforced its absolute value, achieving a great success, both economically and architecturally speaking, after being able to keep the essence of the original house while, at the same time, expanding its rooms and updating its appearance.

As a conclusion, this project has been very useful to confirm that architecture is no precise science, but a customized and handmade work to maximize the quality of life of the users, by finding the accurate balance between the resources needed and owned.