2 minute read
HOW DO THEY DO THAT?
1. HOUSE ON THE CLIFF
Location: Salobreña, Granada
Project architects: Bartolome Gil Arquitectos
Featured on the BBC’s World’s Most Extraordinary homes, the House on the Cliff is built into a cliff face with a 42 degree slope. Every room has superb sea views with the architects making the most of the location for this family home overlooking the Mediterranean.
2. HOUSE IN NEVER NEVER LAND
3. THE HOUSE OF THREE SISTERS
BUILT into cliff faces, perched on plateaus and hidden in woods, each of these properties posed its own challenges to the architects involved in their creation.
After the BBC included two homes in Spain in a series on extraordinary properties, the Olive Press takes a look at some other unusual homes found in Spain, and the solutions their designers came up with to meet the needs of their clients.
4. HOUSE HEMERCOSCOPIUM
Location: Madrid
Project architects: Ensamble Studio
Another property featured on the show is this stunning creation of concrete and glass. The architects made full use of a U-shaped beam to ‘hang’ the house from, with its interior filled with water to create an unusual first-floor swimming pool. The weight of the beam and water are somehow counterbalanced by a massive rock.
EXTRAORDINARY: The whole home is counterbalanced by this rock
PIC CREDIT Andres Jaque Architects
Location: Ibiza
Architect: Andre Jacques
THIS project has paid the greatest attention to minimising its impact on the natural environment. Despite the wooded plot, no trees were felled and the house was raised to avoid damaging the soil substructure and animal habitats. This was taken to such lengths that trees actually grow through the structure of the home.
OP Puzzle solutions
Quick Crossword
Across: 1 Amused, 5 Both, 7 Akela, 9 Hermit, 10 Rips, 11 Algae, 12 Wept, 13 Doze, 14 Orange, 16 Stem, 17 Scar, 19 Cradle, 20 Frau, 23 Neat, 24 Nahum, 26 Taxi, 27 Obtain, 28 Taper, 29 Thus, 30 Ensign
Down: 2 Mae West, 3 Symptom, 4 Data, 5 Bared, 6 Topaz, 8 Engaged, 15 Airship, 17 Senates, 18 Amazing, 21 Reach, 22 Units, 25 More
Location: Bullas, Murcia
Project architects: Blancafort-Reus Arquitectura
Set in a desert-like landscape, the House of Three Sisters (named after the siblings who had it built as a holiday home) is designed to change over time. The architects say: “Sun and precipitation will change the colour of the wood, and on the facades there are signs of life growing on this building.”
Location: Matarranya, Teruel
Project architects: KGDVS
It could also be called the Round House, as it offers 360-degree panoramic views from a pla- teau setting that overlooks woo- ded wilderness. It is designed in a modular fashion with units ac- cessed from the 1,000m2 inte- rior patio complete with a pool carved into the rock. Modules can be shifted to alter living space. It is intended to make re- sidents feel alone in the woods as part of a small project of uni- que homes set in 100 hectares.
