A lightweight steel truss structure rests on top of the concrete structure, soaring over the terrace and raising the program at night. The project combines concrete wall and pillar systems with the transparency of large glazed windows.
Happy House Begur by SALA FERUSIC Architects. Photograph by Marcela Grassi.
Description of project by SALA FERUSIC Architects
Happy House is a single-family house on the hillside of Aiguablava, in Begur (Girona), overlooking the natural cove. The architectural design is based on criteria of integration and sustainability with its immediate surroundings, seeking continuity with the terrain and landscape from a concept of maximum energy efficiency and low carbon footprint.
The building is crowned at the level of the access road and gives continuity to the landscape by employing a landscaped roof, which descends gently to pass through the different levels of the terrain. This is a route on foot, in which the views of the cove and the autochthonous vegetation accompany the passer-by to the access door of the dwelling, the perimeter of a courtyard situated in the heart of the house.
This play of heights translates into a sequence of variable sections, which contrasts and contrasts the character of each of its two floors. Access is via the first floor, through a glazed space overlooking Aiguablava, from which a staircase descends through a double space to the ground floor.
On the one hand, the ground floor accommodates daytime uses and is partially semi-buried in the plot, combining the massiveness and tectonics of a system of concrete walls and pillars with the transparency of large glazed windows. In this way, it frames the most singular views over the cove and seeks continuity with the plot, the landscape, and the porch terrace through the overhang of the upper floor. Although its connection with the terrain allows the temperature of the house to be tempered by the effect of thermal inertia, the visor over the terrace prevents direct sunlight from hitting the glass to make it more pleasant and efficient at the same time. The program pivots on the central courtyard, which allows the sun to enter in the mid-afternoon while promoting the natural ventilation of the house through the chimney effect.
On the other side, a much lighter steel truss structure rests on top of the concrete structure, bridging the terrace and raising the nighttime program to the first floor. If the lower floor blurs the boundary between inside and outside, this one becomes more intimate and is covered with permeable ceramic skin. A piece designed together with Ceràmica Cumella runs at different rhythms along the last layer of the ventilated façade, allowing the interior chamber to ventilate while varying the gradient of light and views over the rooms it covers. A dual finish means that depending on the direction in which one looks at the building, one can perceive either the matt, natural color of the ceramic or the soft turquoise color of the glaze. Or the natural color of the earth, or the color of the sea, the sky, and the surroundings. And above it, the green roof insulates and tempers its interior in a friendly and natural way.
The architectural design of Happy House Begur seeks the formal and constructive coherence of this single-family home in favor of efficiency, sustainability, responsibility with the place, as well as landscape integration, in an environment as sensitive as the Aiguablava cove.
