MYCC architects: prefabricated nature

‘prefabricated nature’ by MYCC architects all photos © fernando guerra/FG+SG

built in three months and assembled in three days, ‘prefabricated nature’ is a vacation house by spanish firm MYCC architects (formed by carmina casajuana, beatriz g. casares and marcos gonzález), located in the galician municipality of cedeira, spain.

the house is located on a steep slope, in a remote location in the northeast corner of the iberian peninsula, an area dominated by the imposing presence of the ocean and the forest of eucalyptus trees surrounding it. the terrain is surrounded by harvest fields, family farms and pitched roof houses. this image, protected by the area’s building codes, determined the geometry of the house.

the volume was wrapped with two materials with the purpose of setting up a dialogue with the landscape. the roof and the side facades were covered with viroc®, a prefabricated mixture of cement and wood shavings. the fibercement has a great strength efficiency in spite of being light and, therefore, is easy to maintain and move. the two main facades of the house were clad with perforated corten trays following the schematized image of a forest silhouette, recreating the image of the surrounding vegetation. this material was chosen because it is part of the local tradition of fishing towns like cedeira, used for the construction of boat hulls, and the gradual and controlled oxidation of which gives the material self-protecting qualities. its patina and changing color create a lively image that relates with the natural environment. this interplay between the natural and the artificial also benefits the interior spaces, where the light that crosses through these silhouettes casts shadows of trees in the different rooms.

being a vacation house, the interior spaces are free-flowing and open up to the landscape, turning it into the protagonist. the six modules that make up the house, of approximately 6 meters in length and 3 in width (the maximum reasonable width to enable their transportation by trailer) organize the program as follows: the first one contains the bedroom, which can be divided into two thanks to a blind concealed in the ceiling, and which becomes a partition wall when more rooms are needed; the second contains the bathroom and stairs; the third the kitchen; and the last three the living room. the top floor, under the roof flaps, houses an attic that is a free-flowing space with a double facade that opens up to the sea views towards the southwest and to the forest towards the northeast. it is a space that flows out onto the living room without a designated use, and that can perform as a guest bedroom, tai-chi room or playing area for kids.

the corten steel cladding punctured with silouhettes of trees

the house combines two different systems: prefabricated construction (2d) for the attic and modular construction (3d) for the ground floor. the modules were built in the facilities of the construction company idm in the madrid town of valdemoro. these modules were built with a structure of beams and galvanized steel columns and with floor and ceiling slabs of composite decking with reinforced concrete. the facade walls are dovetail sandwich panels formed of two sheets of lacquered aluminum and an 80-millimeter-thick polyurethane web plate. several layers of waterproofing stretch beneath the furring strips to which the exterior facades are fixed. towards the interior, a ventilated air cavity of 20 centimeters lets the structure go through, and there is a perimetral panelling of plasterboard with 46 millimeters of rock wool.

the result is a 30-centimeter-thick wall with a ventilated facade cavity, interior cavity and 12 centimeters of total insulation. after an assembly trial in the factory, and after making sure that everything fit in properly, the different modules and trusses of the building were taken apart to be packed and moved in trailers the whole 700 kilometers separating the factory from the remote seaside site where its was to be installed. all the parts were put together again on the designated site in just three days, and the finishing touch-ups were done in the following two weeks.