Madrid, Spain
Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+
PYF Arquitectura
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
The House on the Hill is located at the highest level of the plot, enjoying distant views across the valley and the mountains, and inserting itself into a natural garden of granite rocks and gnarled oaks. From the street, the building seems to disappear; the tight construction is veiled by a horizontal slat fence, above which an intriguing slanted
roof garden made of apparently random circles can be seen.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
The house is organized around three
courtyards. The two smaller ones define an axis that runs along the path from the street to the garden, incorporating at the same time the vertical circulations. The larger courtyard is occupied almost entirely by the indoor pool, around which all the elements of the house are arranged.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
A home where the pool could be seen from the living room and the bedroom" had been the client's own words.] As the pool extends into the garden, it also brings with it a platform for its enjoyment. The living room occupies an intermediate situation, surrounded by water on three of its sides, with large windows facing the courtyard and looking into the garden. This apparently simple and strict scheme is transformed by the almost total internal transparency and the slope of the roof. The different environments of the house are all visually connected enhancing and augmenting the spatial experience.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
The project seeks to build a complex medium capable of encompassing and generating the multiplicity and variety of activities inherent to the domestic sphere. Three levels of relationships are posed: internal, with respect to the patios, pool and other premises; close, with respect to the garden; far, with respect to the landscape. The spaces and finishes are customized to generate diverse situations, an environment susceptible to multiple interpretations, consistent yet singular.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
The exterior walls are covered with dark phenolic panels that glow and change color depending on the incidence of light. In contrast, the courtyards are influenced by the internal transparency and covered with backlit translucent glass. Inside, some elements are emphasized by the use of natural materials or provocative colors. The staircase to the first floor is entirely transparent, with glass steps between glass walls; people in transit seem to float in space. In contrast, the steps to the basement, made of solid wood, emerge outright from the concrete wall, enclosed but untouched by steel wires.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
The design of the garden and the green roof deliberately breaks the geometry of the building using sinuous and circular lines, inducing a changing perception of the building due to the variability and unpredictability of the greenery.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa |
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| situation plan--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
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| basement floor plan--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
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| ground floor plan--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
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| first floor plan--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
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| side elevations--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
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| section 01--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
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| section 02--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
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| section 03--drawing Courtesy of Miguel Barahona Arquitecto+PYF Arquitectura |
The people
Architects: Miguel Barahona,
PYF Arquitectura
Location: Madrid, Spain
Project area: 378 sqm
Project year: 2007 – 2010
Photographs: Estudio Autobombo / Jimena Merino, Marco Villa
