English clients, in love with Asturias, decide that their second home will be industrialized. Produced during four months in a factory in Madrid and transferred to its final location at 600 km, crossing the Cantabrian mountain range, where it will assemble in only 5 hours. Finally, the black slate roof is placed by a craftsman of the zone. Technology and tradition in the days of Brexit.
The new extension of the Fine Arts Museum of Asturias is integrated into an urban complex which through successive expansions has made room for one of Spain’s finest art collections. After the enlargement, this urban complex will take up much of its block in the historical center of Oviedo, close to the cathedral and surrounded by streets with high value in the memory of natives of the city as well as visitors, and bordering also with the city’s most representative square.
The peculiar topography of the site, its orientation and mountain views of Cuera are the starting points in the design of an artist´s residence/studio + countryside bed&breakfast in the Asturian population La Pereda, in the village of Llanes, Spain. The project takes advantage of a loophole in the law -which requires regional build-pitched roofs of curved ceramic tile- to propose a building that looks forward the integration into the natural beauty of the area more than in the built environment that surrounds it. To reach a level that will optimize the views of the mountains and the forest surrounding the plot, the action takes place in the northern part of the site. The existing hill there is removed to play with a single green roof that shelters the different uses, thereby diluting the boundaries between the natural and the built in a game between the tectonic and estereotomic that refers to the land-art interventions. A curved stone wall leads from the main road and back into the building and gains altitude to become the load bearing wall that supports the concrete deck, while separates the residence/studio area, for the artist private use, from the small b&b open to the public. This central wall, massive and forceful to ensure the privacy of both functions, contrast to the facades oriented to the north and south in the housing area and to the east in the b&b, much lighter and visually permeable, to enhance the views. The cover in continuity with the ground not only integrates the building into the environment and minimizes the height above the ground naturally, but also alows to maximize energy savings.
Before its conversion, the farmhouse was untouched for over five decades and needed a complete renovation to be adapted for contemporary needs. There were two construction sites: the main house and a stable. The main house was in a very bad condition, overgrown with vegetation, and numerous repairs had to be made to make it livable. The stone and timber structure of the stable was significantly deteriorated and most of the walls had to be replaced.
Maria Jose and Enrique live in Mexico but travel a lot in Europe. They wanted a second home in Asturias that could be an apartment for the couple and for the whole family at the same time. Through a rotating furniture the two bedrooms of the house may come and go in a minute. The house has three positions and a house with two bedrooms, one bedroom or none of them.
This project comes up from a tendering process to build state subsidized housing in Cerredo (Asturias), a mining town located in the very heart of the Cantabrian Mountains where no residential construction had been made for over 25 years.
Model 01
Architect: Zon-e Arquitectos / Nacho Ruiz Allén, José Antonio Ruiz Esquiroz
Name of Project: Social Housing for Mine Workers
Location: Degaña, Asturias, Spain
Project Area: 2,385 sqm
Photographs: Ignacio Martinez and Jose Antonio Ruiz
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