This Catalan Home’s Stone Facade Hides a Secret Oasis
Amid the rolling green hills, ancient architecture, and winding, narrow streets of Catalonia sits a light-filled sanctuary with a stony exterior.
Designed by award-winning Spanish architecture firm Harquitectes, 1413 House is made from recycled stone and glass. Situated in the quiet, historic village of Ullastret, Girona, the home pays homage to the traditional surrounding structures with a stony street-facing wall.
In an effort to widen the adjoining street, the design team tore down a preexisting wall and rebuilt it. Treetops peek out from the encased garden, shading the hidden oasis.
Rather than placing the home in the center of the garden, Harquitectes set the floor plan along the contour of the road. The project is held together with load-bearing walls made of stone repurposed from the old wall blended with aggregate from the plot, limestone, cement, and small insulating particles of recycled expanded glass.
Instead of installing a stacked rock wall, Harquitectes blended adobe and cyclopean techniques to create a coffered and lifted structure with a chipped, rough facade and a smooth formwork finish inside. The home is entirely unassuming from the street, and it fits right in with the other buildings.
The wall’s thickness shifts and adapts to provide privacy in the four bedrooms, four bathrooms, laundry area, and closets. The mass thins out in the communal areas. The stone-hued interiors feature clean lines, built-in furnishings, and in situ cast concrete flooring.
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Large, sweeping glass doors flood the home with natural light, while opening it up to the garden. An elongated sequence of corridors forms the linear layout. The home responds to the weather well, absorbing solar radiation during the winter, and opening up entirely for indoor/outdoor living in the summer.
Related Reading: 25 Modern Homes That Kill it With Concrete, Top 5 Homes of the Week That Rock Their Concrete Features
Project Credits:
Architect of Record: Harquitectes
Builder/General Contractor: Burgos Gasull
Photography: Adriö Goula
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