Grace House project in Valencia (Spain)
Today we present this amazing project for which the spectacular Travertine of Levantina has been chosen as the star materials. A house that plays with natural lighting and hidden artificial lighting, also has a sophisticated IoT installation that allows controlling each and every one of the devices in the house. It is, therefore, a house designed by and for the user, in which a good part of the principles of the Well Building are applied.
Project data:
Architects: RUBEN MUEDRA ARCHITECTURE STUDIO
Location: Paterna, Valencia, SpainArchitect in Charge
Principal Architect: Rubén MuedraÁrea
Surface: 581.10 m2 Photographs
Photographer: Adrián Mora MarotoCollaborators
Collaborators: Ángela Gómez, Raúl GarcíaEstructura
Structure: Emilio BeldaTechnical Architect
Building Engineer: Rubén Clavijo
Interior Design: Rubén Muedra Architecture Studio
Construction: Nideker Houses
Plot Area: 1240.00 m2
Project year: 2017
Construction year: 2018 (13 months)
Project concept and main aspects
The house is located in a very low-density private urbanization with a predominance of large landscaped open spaces and abundant large trees. In this environment there is a pre-existing house from the 70s, of poor construction quality (from which only the structure is partially used), and an establishment with a peculiar orientation in relation to the shape of the plot as a diamond. Initially, it consists of completely completing the pre-existing prism to model a complete volume of travertine marble as a sculpture and, later, sculpt both cubic (horizontal) and vertical (elevations), thus originating from the access to the housing to each of the terraces of the same.
In this way, a single pure volume is generated, of great geometric roundness, which responds with large gaps to the functional needs of each programmatic element of the house. The first void corresponds to the access to the house itself (the square plan is only completed on the semi-basement level).
Similarly, on the second floor, each zenith hole gives rise to a private terrace that acts as a filter for each of the main bedrooms. Likewise, in elevation, each room has a square hole whose position, size and opening system responds to the specific functional need.
The angle of rotation at 45º of the house with respect to the plot allows the interior-exterior relationship to be prolonged with greater depth on all four sides of it. Likewise, the program is distributed in section with the different uses, housing the parking and leisure area in the basement; the ground floor is used as a day area, generating a fluid succession of open spaces that extend outside; and on the first floor is the night area with its private terraces. The importance of materials and lighting.
The roundness of the travertine, which surrounds the house continuously, contrasts with the wealth of materials inside, adapted to the functional program, ranging from continuous pavement in parking, textile in cinema, synthetic in gym, ceramic in the day area or wood in the night area. In the same way it occurs in vertical cladding where walnut paneling and black and white marbling predominate.
The sculpted morphology of the house allows natural lighting to be used as one more material; controlling, filtering or screening the light input according to use and orientation. And in the same way artificial lighting is treated, using hidden lighting, combining linear, circular or point sequences depending on the needs of interior and exterior spaces. It also has a sophisticated system of installations and home automation that allows controlling each and every one of the devices in the home (IoT). It is therefore a home designed by and for the user, in which a good part of the principles of the Well Building are applied.