The project was conceived for a housing complex in the outskirts of Jaén (Urbanización Azahar) that was almost completed when this house was commissioned. Most of this complex is the result of a single development plan and repeats a single model of semi-detached house in most of the plots. This gives the whole area a marked uniformity and a somewhat decontextualised character.
Two significant urban images define the spirit of the place: to the South, the prismatic volumes of the castle and the city walls; to the West, the industrial estates that rise over the olive groves. The site for this project occupies the Northwest corner in the complex, topographically the highest point.
The house dominates the complex from its vantage point and relates to the urban space as another prism of stone severed from the old walls, but simultaneously incorporating the materials and texture of the factories and industrial constructions nearby. The house works like a meeting point between the medieval remains and the industrial estate architecture, combining steel framing, glass panels and massive walls.
To achieve this effect I have tried to contain the diversity of interior spaces within a single compact volume defined by glass and stone, almost cubic in shape. The three inner levels correspond to three different uses: the basement is occupied by the garage, indoor swimming-pool and the mechanical rooms; the main floor is reserved for the “day” area (living rooms, kitchen and terrace); the upper floor for “night” area (bedrooms and library).
The clear-cut volume of the house is paralleled by a marked simplicity in the overall composition of spaces, particularly in the dichotomy between “server” and “served” spaces. This creates two continuous side strips that contain the service rooms (bathrooms, mechanical rooms and kitchen) between which the main rooms are contained. This pattern rules the overall constructive and structural layout of the whole: the columns are displaced to the side strips, leaving large unobstructed spaces in between. This layout fulfilled the customer’s demand for an open swimming-pool area, totally free from columns.
The façade follows the same general concept that inspires the building. The side service strips make two massive pillars that support the main floor like a large glass lintel. The basement and ground floor hide underneath this lintel, as if they constituted an independent box.
The project again relies on a modular and industrial steel structure: H-section profile for columns in the ground floor and I-beams and composite metal decking for floors.