Project: Moraleja Residence
Architects: Darro18 Arquitectos / José Luis Gahona, Juan Rodriguez-Villa
Project Manager: Agustín Marsá
Project Team: Jorge G. Ferrer, Jorge Cuartas, Moritz Bayer, Alberto Iranzo
Location: La Moraleja, Madrid, Spain
Built area: 2.350 m2
Photographer: Imagen Subliminal: Miguel de Guzman+Rocio Romero
The Plot
The plot with a great lawn with imposing trees to the south, and a forest of pine trees to the north, offered a wonderful setting for an architecture relating the inside to the outside. In a clear of the forest, in the highest part of the plot, stood an old house that was going to be demolished.
The Solution
In our proposal, instead of a single compact volume that would dominate the landscape, we chose to dissolve the house into individual pieces, placing them in the clearing on the highest part of the plot. We wanted an architecture in which outer form and geometry did not immediately reveal themselves. One which, thanks to it facades, would act as a hinge between the density of the pine tree forest to the north, and the openness of the main lawn to the south.
The Exterior
Towards the north, the Moraleja Residence is structured through a series of volumes with turned back façades and slanted roofs that penetrate in the forest clearings. The overhanging volume of the family room on the first floor acts as an entrance canopy, inviting guests to enter the house.
To the south, double height stone porticos project forward into the garden. The interior facades, recessed from the stone porticos, combine glass surfaces with bands of zinc. All the living spaces of the house incorporate floor to ceiling windows allowing for extensive views to the garden.
