HARQUITECTES surrounds metal-clad house 905 with wide veranda in spain

HARQUITECTES has completed ‘casa 905’ (house 905) in igualada, barcelona, spain, with a wide veranda that surrounds its central living core. clad in corrugated galvanized metal sheets, the residence is structured in four concentric layers parallel to the limits of the plot. from outside to inside, the project’s layers start from the fence, the perimeter courtyard, and the continuous gallery that wraps around the central, two-story concrete block box.all images by adrià goula

HARQUITECTES developed the project for a couple with an interest in contemporary japanese architecture, who wanted a house without maintenance, with a lot of privacy and a good relationship with the garden all year round. enclosed by a newly-built opaque fence, about two meters in height, the house is placed off-centered to the east, filling the 120 sqm of maximum occupation and building limit,s except the west, where the sun comes in all year round. the core of the house comprises a two-story concrete block box, surrounded by a continuous veranda that serves as an extension of the interior while connecting the core to the surrounding garden.

the central body of the residence encloses the bedrooms, the bathrooms and the stairs, while the gallery houses all common areas. ‘almost everything happens in the gallery,’ notes the spanish studio. ‘it is a veranda, with certain resonances to charles moore’s orinda house, which proposes intense and variable relations (seasonally) with the patio; in summer, through the large sliding walls it becomes a porch; in winter, large windows in the corners offer framed views of the garden and capture solar radiation to the west. contrary to what is usual, in this house the windows are fixed, and the mobile doors are opaque, a condition that constantly transforms the façade and the gallery, depending on what is open and what is closed.’

the veranda, with its sloping roof, is built with light and dry systems: wooden structure (pillars, beams, and roof) and glass, aluminum, and corrugated galvanized sheet enclosures. in contrast to the lightness of the gallery, the central core is massive and compact, with more thermal inertia. the block walls and slabs are left visible in the gallery and painted white in the rooms.

during wintertime, the veranda shelters and heats the entire core, which does not have its own climate system on the ground floor. the concrete floor, with a lot of inertia, apart from receiving direct solar radiation on time, is heated via underfloor heating, as are the rooms on the second floor. in the summer, when the sliding doors are closed, the windows are protected from the sun by the overhang of the roof, and by reflective exterior curtains. at the same time, the inclination of the roof favors a passive ventilation system that evacuates the hot air through four ducts hidden in the facades that work as small solar chimneys, favouring the natural renovation and facilitating the cooling of the veranda.