Designed following the principles of a good bioclimatic design to obtain a greater yield of natural resources and reduction of energy demand, a house with very low heating and cooling demands is achieved. A compact home, well oriented and with good solar gain capacity, in addition to a very well insulated and airtight envelope.
Description of project by SUMO Arquitectes
A garage of 120 m², a house of 180 m², and almost 300 m² of outdoor spaces. The BE house was designed for an enterprising family of 4 members, on a minimum plot of 370 m², well oriented but surrounded by buildings, in Argentona, El Maresme.
The program was ambitious for its extension: garage-storage room, housing for 4 people, and the maximum free space available.
The overlapping of the program within the regulations of the municipality, allowed to place the garage-storage room in the semi-basement floor, the common spaces on the first floor, the more private spaces on the second floor, and a garden on the roof floor. The house is situated parallel to the boundary of the plot, with the first floor at the highest possible level to improve the sunshine of the house and garden.
All spaces are directly related to an unplanned outdoor space. The study, the living room, and the kitchen-dining room are related to a double-height linear porch. Simple manually operated wooden roller blinds regulate the solar radiation and the views. A semi-covered and semi-exposed outdoor space.
On the second floor, each room has a linked terrace of between 3 and 8 m². Crossed views are generated between the users of the house. An exterior staircase gives access to the roof. A garden overlooking the pre-coastal mountain range and the Mediterranean Sea. It is in this space where a 12 kWpic photovoltaic field is placed.
Open space - Garden
On a plot of 370 m², the project generates a set of diverse outdoor spaces, with different degrees of privacy different degrees of privacy (a garden with a swimming pool on the first floor, a porch, three private terraces, and a roof garden). A total of 294 m² of occupiable outdoor living space.
Materiality
The first floor and second floor are built with a dry industrialized timber-framed system, with wooden floors and beams and a facade finished with heat-treated pine lath. The plinth of the house in contact with the ground is made of concrete. The porch is made of hot galvanized steel tubes. A very slender structure that generates an occupiable intermediate space in plan and section, between the interior and the garden. Each material is used where it is most efficient.
Off-grid
Designed according to Passivhaus principles, a house with very low heating and cooling demands is achieved. A compact, well-oriented house with good solar gain capacity, with a very well insulated and airtight envelope. The concrete floor of the first floor provides the necessary thermal inertia. In summer, the double-height shaded porch protects the house and allows for pleasant cross ventilation.
The green roof protects the house from excess solar radiation and overheating. The house has centralized ventilation with heat recovery with heat and cold batteries, enough to temper the house most of the year. Aerothermics with a hydro kit provides DHW and hot and cold water to feed the batteries linked to the heat recovery unit. A single fan coil has been installed to cover the peak times of the year.
With a 12 kWpic photovoltaic installation with storage batteries, the house produces the energy it consumes and family habits have been adapted to the generation available in the house.
