How the environment reshape the architecture
Client
Location
Category
Video
Furniture
Private
David Zarzoso
Marcel House:
Project report
– Palafrugell, Baix Empordà.
That is why this landscape is presented as an actor in architecture; denotes a duality that catches anyone who observes it, with that hardness characteristic of the stone that remains motionless within this landscape and that is opposed by the softness of the sea that incessantly tries to leave its mark on it by incessantly modifying the environment. (that is why it can be understood as changing)
The concrete platforms maintain the topographic lines as an extension of the stones of the hill defining the profile of the house; they are changing components, at first sight so robust and heavy that they end up transforming into floating sheets, infinite elements that become one with the sea/horizon. The wood that enters the house, which accompanies it as if the landscape were able to enter it and accept it as an element of the environment.
Marcel House is adaptive and harmonious, an architecture that connects the interior with the exterior, the human being with nature.
Merging the architecture with its landscape
Using architecture with a design approach
Toyo Ito said «Architecture has to merge with the environment, not be a differentiating element». Applied to the design of a house, it allows for the development of a coherent architecture that remains aware of its surroundings and learns from them. In Marcel House it is present throughout the development and the very experience the project offers. Entering the house becomes an experience of discovery, transitioning from a central, grounded cave housing private spaces to open areas where architecture gradually merges with the surrounding landscape.
Landscape as architecture
Marcel House is adaptive and harmonious, an architecture that connects the interior with the exterior, the human being with nature. Located on a cliff, it was designed divided into different levels that complement the language of the adjacent architecture and landscape.
Each element has a role that it performs to perfection, as if it were a play. The concrete platforms maintain the topographical lines as an extension of the stones of the hill defining the profile of the house; they are changing components, at first sight so robust and heavy that they end up transforming into floating sheets, infinite elements that become one with the sea/horizon. The wood that enters the house, that accompanies it as if the landscape were able to enter it and accept it as another element of the environment. Finally, the glass, which is responsible for blurring the separation of both worlds.
Landscape as art
We have spoken of a complementation between architecture and landscape, allowing them to enhance each other, Marcel House being a stage with its «backgrounds». In the house constant visual connections are offered, each platform being at different levels connects with the terrain, the trees and finally the horizon, the sky and the sea.
From the interior, something similar happens, since being free of structural elements that obstruct the vision in the front and being concentrated in the rear area, they are cleverly used to create different frames or views as photographs of the landscape, allowing that while you move around inside the house, the house offers you a preview of what you can find outside.
A designed terrace where the material integrates various elements effortlessly.
The house and landscape merge, as the pool appears to blend with the distant sea, reinforcing architecture as an extension of nature.
An open living space where architecture frames the sea. Large glass panels dissolve boundaries, allowing light and landscape to flow in, creating an ever-changing connection with nature.
Donde la arquitectura dialoga sin fisuras con la naturaleza.
Where architecture becomes a seamless dialogue with nature.
