La Baranda, a housing development in El Sauzal, Tenerife, is located in a privileged landscape on the island’s north coast. Crowned by the imposing presence of Mount Teide, the coast rolls out and spills into the ocean. The plots feature slopes so pronounced that, in their awareness of a few deplorable examples, building regulations require a thoughtful volumetric adaptation.
Faced with these breath taking panoramic views and with the extreme topography, we set out to build a kind of abstraction, modifying the terrain through agricultural principles, terracing different levels with retaining walls, and “planting” the terraces with living spaces belowstrips of recovered landscape. A slight inclination of the upper covering stands as an urban façade finish and prevents the approach to the home from compromising the overall experience. Allone notices approaching the home in this manneris an area of woodland, a garden of local species that defines the unique location and seeks to alter it as little as possible or, at least, aspires to a respectful relationship with what was previously there.
This project intervened in a site resulting from gutting the interior of two historic (listed) buildings. We conceived the new building from the conservation of the historic façades, whose stability was assured by buttressing them with a metallic structure. Taking these façades as our starting point, we worked out a strategy to erect one building where two stood previously. We then set out to consolidate the height of the new slabs. To bridge the gap in preexisting elevations, we placed the open staircase-patio on the front of the building at no. 33, setting back the new volumen. In this way, the slabs would not face old gaps.
This architectural intervention on the top of a rationalist building dating back to 1936 is an attempt at updating a two-bedroom home from a series of underlying elements and restrictions befitting a long-established building.
This project addresses an excess of servitude derived from the demanding topography and strict regulations through a straightforward strategy: a compact, clean and tidy body overlooking the Atlantic’s rising face and enjoying a panoramic view of the Anaga Mountains to the west. It is a simple‐volume step section that tries to sit naturally on the terraced slope.
The client spent a long time searching for a top floor apartment to live in; as soon as he found this property, he was in no doubt and he purchased it. The current dwelling was converted from a dated 4 bed flat to a bright and airy space, creating a continuity between interior and exterior, benefiting from the spacious terrace and providing the most possible space to the remaining area. The exterior areas can be used all the year on thanks to good weather of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The home starts up from a very steep topography and it´s main picture or idea is inspired by the traditional agriculture terraces. Thereby, we try to imitate the builded volume to a landscape that has been traditionally manipulated to this landscape criteria. So, we project a simple volume organized in steps, where the clean cut solutions formally joint to a discreet palette materials, gives this home the sufficient formal clarity and program.
The house is designed taking into account the following aspects:
Adaptation of the volume to bothdividing walls. Regulations allow three floors, so the house is higher than others around. That is why the top floor is setback (allowing the sunlight to come into the house through a fanlight) and we decided the height of the building, adapting it to the house on the left, while the dividing wall on the right is a continuation of the façade to respond to the smaller height of the house on the right.
The presence of greenhouses in the plot inspired textures, lighting and finishes of this group of public housing.
The law, moreover, established the fragmentation of volumes in pieces no larger than 25 meters. We try therefore that the resulting courtyards were arranged staggered, and thus control the drafs from the streets, while reducing the courtyards dimension, offering more diversity of spaces and of more a private character.
This small intervention, in the middle of a banana plantation, is inspired by the particular environmental conditions to respond to an elementary program. This construction, vibrated concrete blocks embedded in one of the greenhouses, required special treatment for it´s purpose as a flexible space destined to a variety of events. Therefore, the promoters proposed us to qualify an unfinished building on a site with spectacular scenic values.
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