Aureus compositional scheme, Single family dwelling in Ubrique by Carquero Arquitectura

Description of project by Carquero Arquitectura

Ubrique is one of the municipalities that make up the so-called "White Villages" of the Sierra de Cádiz, characterized by a winding urban layout of Arabic origin and interesting popular architecture, with white facades and sloping roofs of tiles. Ubrique is located in the Valley of the Aljibe, crossed by the Arroyo Seco River that acts as the lower axis from where the city develops on steep slopes: the new zone ascends towards the west, and the historic city ascends towards the Cumbres del Caíllo, on the east.

The plot is located on the perimeter of the historic center, this edge interests the topographical relationship that exists between the ascent to the historic city with the natural peaks as a backdrop and the descent into the mighty Arroyo Seco (green connector of the town) and of the urban growth zone. This plot, almost rectangular, with lateral medians, has its front towards a narrow street, border of the Historical Center and its back, with steep descending slope, opens to a common green area towards the landscape of the Ubriquen Valley.

The traditional domestic architecture of this region distributes the day program on the ground floor, leaving the first floor as a sleeping area and the second floor as storage. The “zaguan” or hallway in this popular urban architecture is a transitional space between the house and the street that serves as a spatial articulator and a very interesting element of Arab tradition.

The project of the dwelling attempts to search this relationship/duality duality in such an interesting section, at the same creating a dialogue with the ubriquen popular architecture. Thus, the different sections of the house become the base discourse of development of the project, providing the house with an interior spatial richness that unites the functional program.

The main entrance space, triple height, is what makes the transition between the busy and narrow street and the interior of the house, referring to the traditional Zaguán. This hall offers a versatile space that serves as an entrance and play area for children, and is richly composed of three massive volumes that fly over it and whose shadows thrown by the large windows provide a spatial harmony that dignifies the traditional “zaguan” or hall itself.

Functionally, the traditional housing program is inverted due to the characteristics and location of the plot: on the ground floor, the hallway and garage are arranged toward the street, and the bedroom area toward the rear green area (staying a little higher to gain height in its upper level terrace), being the linear staircase the element that articulates the floor of the house. On the first floor is the master bedroom with bathroom facing the street, leaving the day area of the house (living-kitchen-dining room) open to a continuous terrace overlooking the Valley of the Aljibe. From this space, with an inclined roof, you can also access a mezzanine that serves as a study connected to the living room, leaving as service nuclei the three volumes that project to the hall (laundry room, staircase and toilet).

The municipal ordinances limit to PB + 2 the number of heights of the house, so we decreased this maximum volume built allowed thus allowing the creation through the slantedforged concrete  a direct visual from the terrace / living / study towards the summits of Caíllo, thus being able have a cross view of the entire environment that surrounds the plot.

The main façade is designed thinking of these interior visual relationships, natural lighting and considering the characteristics of the surrounding popular architecture (white, austere volumes and sloping tile roofs). Compositely, a modulated white Composite base hides the access openings and connection systems, in relation to the formal and austere traditional architecture, while the volume and composition of the holes are made based on the golden ratio that harmonizes the elevation.

Constructively the house has been executed with a mixed structure of steel and concrete, covers and closings with traditional Andalusian systems, using the most up-to-date models of carpentry, home automation, air conditioning, lighting and renewable energy technologies in its interior.