House F – Telde, Spain
Title
House F – Telde, Spain
Designed by
Xstudio
Image Credit
© David Rodríguez
Project Description
House F is located in an urban oasis in the center of Telde, a neighborhood crisscrossed by a network of irregular, narrow cobbled streets. Its urban fabric is defined by old terraced houses, creating long, white walls. The house occupies one of the few vacant plots in the area, situated next to an orange grove protected by a long, whitewashed wall.
The regulations for the area, with their marked protectionist character, establish strict conditions that push for a solution of mimicry with what already exists for the new architecture, determining in an almost mathematical way the position, size and proportion of the openings of the main facade.
This is where the debate surrounding the project arises. The proposal is approached with the understanding that the environment has a series of constants that must be respected, but from there, the new architecture must express its own time and place, since only in this way can the history of the urban context be valued.
Thus, the project takes advantage of the gaps in the regulations to present a radically white canvas, a deliberately austere house that sometimes opens up to the neighborhood, but at other times prefers to be a wall, like the neighboring property.
Once inside, the house is compositionally liberated, evidencing this condition on the rear facade.
House F is the result of deep reflection on the idea of dwelling and the multiple domestic scenarios that an architectural project can foster. It is a house for a couple where the residents can choose to participate in the public life of the neighborhood, opening themselves up to or closing themselves off from the surroundings. It is both dwelling and refuge.
In its functional scheme, the house is organized around two voids: a central courtyard onto which the staircase and rooms open, and another at the back of the plot, which frees up a large area for a south-facing garden. This allows for the creation of an interior world in which the spaces gravitate around the two voids, promoting visual connections at different levels and integrating the exterior spaces as part of the home.
Regarding uses, only those strictly necessary to fulfill the residential program are defined. Otherwise, the rooms have no defined function, presenting themselves as reversible spaces of varying scales that can face the exterior, the interior, or both.
The sparse palette of finishes moves in a balance of contrasts between cold and warm materials: concrete floors and ceilings, white walls and natural pine wood.
The result is a sober environment that aims to be colonized by its inhabitants, and which will only become a home when this happens.
