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An abrupt plot of land overlooking the sea, where what is best is to do nothing.
It invites to stay. A piece that respects the land's natural contour is set in it. Above, a shadow, the house itself, looking calmly at the Mediterranean. Under the sun, the swimming-pool brings us closer to the sea, it becomes a quiet cove.In the inflection point, the stairway proposes a evocative path, a garden in the basement...
Due to the steepness of the plot and the desire to contain the house in just one level, a three-dimensional structure of reinforced concrete slabs and screens adapting to the plot's topography was chosen, thus minimizing the earthwork. This monolithic, stone-anchored structure generates a horizontal platform from the accessing level, where the house itself is located. The swimming-pool is placed on a lower level, on an already flat area of the site. The concrete structure is insulated from the outside and then covered by a flexible and smooth white lime stucco. The rest of materials, walls, pavements, the gravel on the roof... all maintain the same colour, respecting the traditional architecture of the area, emphasizing it and simultaneously underlining the unity of the house.
The choice of construction systems was determined by the environment, budget restrictions and the search for innovations that respect tradition. The economic parameters were: the available budget, the existing resources and the local means, which lack advanced technology. Nevertheless, we innovated mainly through the use of external insulation, which is well suited to the regions climate and respects the traditional appearance of the surrounding structures.
We search for temporal continuity, creating an architecture that will last over time without becoming obsolete. Innovation is important on all of these levels. It is based on the experience of tradition and its evolution: new materials and new technologies that improve peoples lives.
FRAN SILVESTRE ARQUITECTOS
Fran Silvestre Arquitectos is a studio based in Valencia made up a multidisciplinary group of architects founded in 2005 by architect Fran Silvestre. Influenced by the above mentioned architect, Alvaro Siza, or the sculptor Andreu Alfaro, among others, the studio realizes series of projects that take into account factors such as modulation, serialization or light. Thus, giving rise to buildings of high purity, using constant innovative materials and technologies. The firm's projects have been published in international magazines of architecture and design such as, Pencil, GG, GA Houses, On-Site, or AV3, and exhibited in very important museums and galleries of art and design.
Last year, Fran Silvestre Arquitectos was awarded with the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2013, architecture an urban design (project: House on the cliff) and was nominated to the German Design Award 2105 (Project: Vegamar Seleccion Wine Shop). During 2010, has been awarded the MHK Prize (Berlín) for the project Casa del Atrio (Atrium House); and has been finalist of Concurso internacionalpara la Fundación de Arquitectura Contemporánea.
