Two Houses in Roses
Roses (Gerona), Spain
We were asked to design two single-family houses on a small plot, on a mountainside of the Mediterranean coast invaded by small white volumes that spread without control.
We started out with the intention of not becoming part of this reality, and looked for the image of these mountains before the invasion of tourism, when stone walls altered the topography to create small farming terraces.
The project is organized starting out from the concept of the walls, placing the houses in terrace-like tiers so that each room is in contact with the ground. The walls are curved to offer the best views and the tiered design turns the roofs into terraces for the living rooms. The house is accessed through the center, through an intermediate level, without views, and only when going up to the living room shall we discover the whole spectacle.
From the front, the houses look like stone walls that disappear into the mountain landscape.
The different levels are staggered to let the vegetation blend with them; from the sides they look like slender towers with timber latticeworks observing the landscape.
Project data
Area
510 m2
Year
Design Development: 1998
Status
Project
Client
Private
Team
Main Architect: Carme Pinós
Architects: Juan Miguel Tizón, Helena Montes, Pep Ripoll, Claudia Schneider