Residential Architecture has a certain allure; it’s a highly intimate & personal architecture and it’s small(ish) scale gives a real freedom to explore your creativity in a way that often just isn’t possible in large scale buildings.
For me, I’m uncertain where my style preference is in residential architecture, I like the sleek crisp look of modernity but I prefer traditional/natural materials (huge fan of stone). I loathe the clutter & fussy-ness of more traditional styles (country cottages fill me with an unfathomable dread) yet, I find the stark, minimal nature of contemporary too clinical.
So naturally I was surprised when I found myself so fond of a little white concrete haven in LLavaneres, Barcelona.
Designed by MIRAG ArquitecturaiGestió, the polyhedral household explores and celebrates the delights to be found in split level architecture (a site with a 30% slope in this instance). The obscure shaping leads to a series of wonderfully weird angular openings, each one framing a rather spectacular view to the beautiful surroundings.
The upper (street) level as you would expect is where the main activities of the house are found while the lower level offers two additional spaces that link out to the garden and a rather enviable pool.
Within the space itself there is a starkness that is strangely appealing to me, where I would usually feel clinical I find the space feels calm. The house feels light as though it could easily float away.
The exposed concrete surfaces are complimented with a muted colour scheme (its all greys & browns), which might just be why it works. Instead of gazing at an ultra-modern-retro bright red sofa in a big empty space, I’m looking past the silent furnishings to the outside & those incredible views, the large glazed openings tempting the visitor outside into the sunshine.
In contrast the exterior’s brilliant white surface shines, rather than hide itself within the land, it jumps out to draw you toward it, it wants you to know (without being garish or overbearing) that this land is it’s home & in this home you’ll get the best views for miles around.
(All images from ArchDailywww.archdaily.com/520809/house-in-llavaneres-mirag-arquitecturaigestio)
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