Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has designed a house on a cliff near the Spanish city of Calpe. The 242 sqm space was located in a tricky yet astonishing area which pushed the team to their boundaries.
According to the architects in charge of the design and construction of the house, the land on which the minimalist design house is located is extremely steep and at the same time offers spectacular views of the sea that invite you to spend time, relax and do nothing.
The House on The Cliff by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos is embedded in the sloping land, maintaining its natural profile that is overshadowed by the house above. The pool was designed to be situated in sunlight and closer to the sea in a quiet cove.
Often between the two elements, sea and land, there are often magical places where the rock is shaped by the water and the wind as if it were sculpted and the suggestion of the landscape determines and inspires the architecture.
Here the architect combines two other natural elements, the air raising the house to a higher level detached from the ground and jutting outwards, and the fire, symbol of the development of civilization, represented by the domestic hearth.
In the project, the four natural elements are symbolically connected by a staircase that anchors to the ground near the pool water and, with its course, seems to project itself into the air, connecting to the fire of the living space.
The overall effect, as well as architectural, acquires a theatrical effect where the blind wall looks like a backdrop and the house a proscenium that connects the coast with the landscape that is the real protagonist of the scene.
At the defining significance, the flight of stairs proposes a suggestive excursion, a treat in the storm cellar. Considering the tendency of the land and the longing to contain the parlor on one story, a three-dimensional structure of strengthened solid foundation building and pieces that adjust to the geography of the land was raised.
A flat solid stone space was made on the veneer at the degree of access from the road, where the front room is found. In the interim, the pool is situated on a lower level of the site.
The concrete development has outer warm protection with an adaptable arrangement, smooth covering, white whitewash. The rest of the materials, walls, floors, ballasted roofs are covered in a similar shading, which underlines the uniform character of the venture.
Photographs: Diego Opazo