Two-storey house located in a very hilly terrain. The owners commissioned the project with an open mind, but with one essential condition: to be respectful with the environment. Under this premise we proposed a house inspired by a natural cave; inherent to the landscape and deeply cozy.
An act of landscape vindication, we tried to integrate it into the environment so that its presence at the top of the mountain would be as natural as possible.
The steep condition of the plot played a key role in the conceptualization of the house. In an act of landscape vindication we tried to integrate it into the environment so that its presence at the top of the mountain would be as natural as possible. The idea was to escape from the lack of sensitivity towards the mountains so common in the mountains near the coast of Alicante. To this end, we adapted the geometry of the house to the topography of the plot and minimized excavations and earthworks. In addition, we reduced to the maximum the typical barriers in these residences (linear fences, ramps and concrete accesses). With this we sought to integrate the house into the landscape, solving it through the distribution of vegetation and the architectural elements themselves.
We organized the volumetry of the building in such a way that it generates a continuous and staggered route to the living areas, placing the entrance on the lower level. From there, the house is accessed through the stairs or the exterior elevator. The idea was to evoke the arrival to the burrow -to the home- after a small ascending route through a wild path.
The envelope of the house is conceived as an extension of the mountain that welcomes it. We sought a natural fusion between the concrete walls and the surrounding limestone. The combination of these walls with the arrangement of the green roofs creates an illusion of an extended or continuous landscape. Inside the house we placed several glass openings that, emulating the entrance to a cave, enhance the feelings of protection and seclusion that we perceive when we reach a safe place.
