"Bosc d’en Pep Ferrer" by Marià Castelló

Description of project by Marià Castelló Martínez

The rock, which comes to the surface in the chosen place, has been carved as if it were a sculpture, offering a cavity reminiscent of the  'marès' stone quarries. A whole space materialized with a single stone. Monolithic. Megalithic. Stereotomic.

The intervention offers a house for a family sensitive to the environment, which program is divided into three light modules built in dry construction systems and a cavity made by subtraction of material on the lower floor. This longitudinal disposition gives place to full-empty successions , patios, connecting walkways, transverse views and a place created by time and discovered by surprise: a natural cave in the main access courtyard, which was integrated to the Project during the process of construction.

The structure is easily comprehensable and manifests itself in three stratums with ascending levels of precision: the lower floor expresses  the obvious absence of containment walls added to the rocky layer, as well as the appearance of a small concrete structure that regulates the upper level of this floor and constitutes the support platform of the ground floor. On the upper floor, as if it were a real-scale scale model, the double-supported set up of the structure becomes evident from the inside, where it has been left seen in most cases. Here a single element (cross-laminated wood pannels) cluster several functions: structure, closure and interior finishing.

The superior quality of the used materials  and their unions has played an important role in the process of creation and realization of the project. Bioconstruction criteria has given preference to natural materials and if possible from the construction place: sculpted rock, crushed gravel from the excavation, capri limestone, pine and fir wood, recycled cotton panels, white macael marble, high permeability silicate painture, etc. All this has reverted to hygroscopic enclosures which are permeable to water steam and guarantee pleasant and healthy indoor environment, while at the same time require less energy efforts for the proper bulding functioning.

At the environmental level, the design provides passive bioclimatic systems of proven effectiveness in this climate, as well as water self-sufficiency thanks to a large volume rainwater cistern that reuses rainwater.