Casa Carmen is located in a widening square in the old Raval de Sant Joan de Elche, which has its first traces in 1265, of Muslim origin. It still has the taste of yesteryear, quiet alleys, with activity and life impregnated in history, with the special cadence of the neighborhood.
The shape of this project arises from the section, because it was born from the idea that, even in the case of a house that develops on two floors, it is understood and perceived spatially as a whole. For this purpose, a large roof with different inclinations is responsible for connecting and giving continuity to both levels by building a spatial continuum. In addition, the upper floor is advanced on the lower one generating a large porch that is the fundamental space for life outside in the houses of the Elche countryside. The double room is configured as a real “house” inside the house, also integrating in its section a single bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. The house opens and projects fully to the south and defines a totally closed stone volume to the north. In the facades of the east and west sides, strategic gaps appear for different entrances of lights and visual frames. In the material, in front of the fossil yellow limestone of the exterior, the inner protagonist is the concrete slabs splinted in pine.
This house is originally a 19th century farmhouse from Camp d’Elx. When we visited the place for the first time we found a traditional house in precarious conditions, with a fallen roof and in a state of advanced ruin.
This new house makes use of the original walls and even incorporates some of them into the new structure. It also makes use of the existing openings to create diaphanous and illuminated spaces that make the most of the south-facing orientation of the house.
This house is a hybrid of several types of houses: first of all the first thing it wants is to be a “house of the Camp d’Elx”, as those still populate the rural districts with its peculiar silhouette, whose traditional architecture makes use of ceramic decks inclined and the deep porches -for shade- oriented at noon; But at the same time it also wants to be a “house-patio Mediterranean”, introverted, protected from the outside and purely white; And also has in its genetics a “Californian house”, one of those sophisticated houses of the admired modern architecture of Los Angeles -with whom we share Mediterranean climate- that unfold their plants -many L shaped- in open horizontal spaces which overlook the gardens and the refreshing swimming pools.
El Valle Trenzado aims to recover the pedestrian’s traffic footprint. Since the channeling works that were made in the 70s definitely skewed Elche’s Canyon continuity. For years the citizens of the city went through this place hardly enjoying it.
This landform (which reaches 40 meters deep) gives the city a chance to travel in a few minutes to an area of high environmental quality.
Authors: ARANEA GROUP ,Francisco Leiva Ivorra architect , Marta García Chico agronomist-landscape , Dancing architect Antoni Jimenez , Real Baeza architect Procorus
Contributors: Architect David Gallardo Llopis , Martín López Robles architect , Luis Navarro Jover architect , Javier Pérez López architect Benjamin , Marian Almansa Frias architect , Jordi Quiñonero Oltra sociologist , Anna Pont-environmental biologist Solbes , Agate architect Vicente Alcaraz
Developer, Owner, Institution: City of Elche
Technical Architect: ristina Carbonell Alesón , Maria Baeza Jesus Alemany
The funerary volume is located between the existing boxes of niches and creates a compact and dense piece of stone that completes the horizontal landscape of this area of the cementery.
A vault is created to preserve and protect the memory of the deceased people and, at the same time has to generate an intimate and quite space for the family. This way, we propose a dense box of horizontal tiles of grey stone which is externally perforated by only two hollows: the door and the cross.
The owners’ urban calling is behind site’s location. A quiet street in Elche’s San Jose area with almost no traffic.
The plot dimensions are 7m x 10.5m, in a street that measures 4m wide.
A tripartite collaboration: Maite (owner), Angel and Javier (project authors, one is also an owner). The first decision is to build “the sideways look”: the facade is drilled with the minimum space, necessary to meet the building legislation.
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