This house, designed by José Costa, is located on a plot, with a downward slope and with about 600m² built, in Campolivar an urbanization in Godella, northwest of Valencia, Spain.

Looking at the sky. Opening up the landscape while preserving all the possible intimacy. Limiting the spaces, providing them with the human scale, making them comfortable to be lived. Widening the plot by opening diagonals and breaking up the volumes at the ends.
José Costa designed the house making its outline folds, depending on the trees that guide its walls, its volumes. To provide lightness and at the same time to root it on the ground, it becomes the main architectural leitmotiv.

The spaces within the plot are organized in 5 semi-levels. The access level contains the bedroom wing. From this level you can go up to the studio, or you can go down to the level that contains the kitchen, main living room and playroom.

The next semi-level going downwards is the swimming pool and the exterior relaxation area. Finally, the lower level is a semi-basement with a gym, technical room and a secondary living room with a kitchen.
 

Description of project by José Costa

The dwelling is conceived as a clearing in its surrounding pine forest.

Its contour folds, conditioned by the existing trees that guide its walls and volume.

The orography is decisive, with a descending slope towards the end of the plot. This allows to bury part of the construction, minimizing the impact of the 600 built square meters.

Giving lightness to such a large construction, while rooting it on the earth, becomes the main architectural leitmotiv.

Looking at the sky. Opening up the landscape while preserving all the possible intimacy.

Limiting the spaces, providing them with the human scale, making them comfortable to be lived. Widening the plot by opening diagonals and breaking up the volumes at the ends. Capturing the sun, but also the shadows. Eaves, canopies, sliding panels, cantilevers and pine trees. Many pine trees.

The spaces within the plot are organized in 5 semi-levels in a kind of spiral that concatenates them all.

The access level contains the bedroom wing. This wing has a double circulation, both in the inside and the outside. The latter allows direct access to the swimming pool from each room.

From this level you can go up to the studio, a multipurpose room with a characteristic folded wooden and zinc roof that opens towards the landscape, or you can go down to the level that contains the kitchen, main living room and playroom. Both of these levels are connected by two double height spaces, one triangular space next to the staircase and the other in the living room.

The next semi-level going downwards is the swimming pool and the exterior relaxation area, connected to the previous one by 4 steps that run across the whole width of the terrace.

Finally, the lower level is configured as a semi-basement with a gym, technical room and a secondary living room with a kitchen. This space contains an exterior excavated area delimited by different concrete elements in continuous dialogue with the landscape: benches, steps, ramps, planters, curved walls, etc.

The different relationships and connections amongst the levels is the key to the richness of the environments and the desired nuances.

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Architect
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Project team
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Victoria DellaChiesa, Daniel Escobedo, Pau Olivares, Ana Fernández, Marco Grechi, Alejandro Martínez.
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Collaborators
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Cálculo de estructuras.- Javier Cases. Diseño instalación eléctrica.-
J. Miguel Sabina. Climatización y renovación de aire.- Leing Ingeniería. Arquitecto técnico.- Ignacio Gazo. Diseño interiores.-
Fela Almenar.

Structures.- Javier Cases. Electrical installation design.- J. Miguel Sabina. Air conditioning and air renewal.- Leing Ingeniería. Quantity surveyor.- Ignacio Gazo. Interior designer.-Fela Almenar.
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Builder Company
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Construcciones Eliseo Pla S.L.
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Dates
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2017-2019
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Location
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Campolivar. Godella. Valencia, Spain
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Photography
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Jose Costa Arq. is an architecture studio based in Valencia. The firm articulates a series of professionals with a common ambition: to make through architecture a better place to live.

Focusing mainly on the residential, cultural and administrative area, it explores the limits of each project through a simple recipe: passion, effectiveness, creativity, sensitivity, research, recycling, commitment, observation, intuition, criticism, poetry, dynamism, integration and a dose important of fun.

Jose Costa, (Alzira, Valencia, June 11, 1978) studied at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, obtaining the title of architect in 2004. Obtaining that same year of the 1st prize in the IVVSA national draft competition in its 5th edition, for the construction of a building with 42 homes for young people in Benidorm, marks the beginning of the first Spanish stage.

In 2011 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, a city that will be the main headquarters of the studio until the end of 2014. There he founded the creative space The House, a multidisciplinary extension of the studio that will allow him to experiment and develop connections ARCHITECTURE - ART - DESIGN - EDUCATION. After 4 intense years in Brazil, he returns to Valencia where he continues to develop architectural, social and artistic projects, both from his own studio and from the Enredant artistic collective of which he is co-founder.
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Published on: February 18, 2020
Cite: "A clearing in the forest. Campo House by José Costa" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/a-clearing-forest-campo-house-jose-costa> ISSN 1139-6415
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