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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Comillas House in Santander, Spain by GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

 
February 22nd, 2021 by Sumit Singhal

Article source: GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

The project comprises a complete refurbishment and partial reconstruction of a listed 19th Century baronial house situated in the centre of the town of Comillas, in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria, not far away from Santander.

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

  • Architects: GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS
  • Project: Comillas House
  • Location: Santander, Spain
  • Photography: Imagen Subliminal
  • Design team: Jacobo García-Germán, Raquel Díaz de la Campa, Miguel López, Marta Roldán, Jorge Ferrer, Iván Corbacho, María Salán, Paloma Mayor, Jaime Silva
  • Structural Engineers: Aguanaz
  • Builder: Hermanos Vega Díaz Rehabilitaciones S.L.
  • Ground Floor: 133 square meters
  • First Floor: 133 square meters

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

  • Second Floor: 146 square meters
  • Top Floor: 51 square meters
  • Project Commission: January 2019
  • Construction Start: July 2019
  • Completion: June 2020

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Given the characteristically deep plan typical of these originally rural lots, the new distribution takes advantage of this elongation by organizing autonomous episodes along the house’s section, fitted for a required intense use by a large family. This is materialized in a programmatic piling-up with the bedroom floor located between the spaces of kitchen-dining room on the ground floor and the social area on top. The ascending sequence culminates in a double-height living room on the top floor, suitable for social gatherings, and where much-sought views towards mountains (Picos de Europa) and sea (Mar Cantábrico) are reached. The sea’s focus is made explicit in the new north façade, which lightens up in an upward sequence topped by a lookout, in a contemporary version of the restored south façade. The inversion of the conventional hierarchy between programmes, with the placement of the social areas on top, makes up for the house’s tight urban constrains but also stages an organizational diagram which prompts a playful use of these spaces.

In contrast with this massive stone-walled architecture, the general tone of interior finishes relies on extensive use of natural wood and pastel tones with reconstructions of the original banisters, loggia and other elements.

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

The initial ruin contained a set of glazed tiles in its façade, relocated from the nearby El Capricho Palace, built in the 19th century by Antoni Gaudí. These pieces were originally placed, in 1884 and in the exact position where they have now been restored, by Antonio Bona, an Italian, the house’s first owner who was also El Capricho’s master builder. The retrieval of these tiles, together with the design of the house’s new smokestacks, fortifies the bond and memory between the ancestral typology of this architecture and the extraordinary cultural flourishment of Art Nouveau in Comillas, still a major feature of this small town’s charm.

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © Imagen Subliminal

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

Image Courtesy © GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

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Categories: House, Renovation, Residential




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