Foixà House | Designed By Bach Arquitectes | Baix Empordà, Spain

address: Foixà,Baix Empordà, Spain
client: Private
Construccions: Fusté
photos: Lluís Casals

The programme for the project asked for a single family home together with a studio and workshop for a local painter. The brief also demanded a small, annexed apartment that can be used as guest accommodation. As a result the house took the form of two perpendicular volumes that face away from the street and create an exterior space that is bounded by the garden and the swimming pool.

Together with these two main elements, two additional extensions appear, one directly adjacent to the parking area that makes up the smaller guest wing and the other that forms the library. These two elements are lower in height than the rest of the building and are therefore hidden from the street. The result gives rise to a partly sunken olive grove between the two, through which one enters the building.

The main volume that contains the living quarters also houses a large living room and an open plan kitchen. Placed in the two smaller extensions are the library and the guest apartment respectively. The main entrance to the house opens up into a hallway that is naturally lit via a small interior patio that also provides natural daylight for the kitchen as well as the entrance to the main bedroom. From the same hall, one can access the annexed library as well as the main living room and the kitchen. All of these spaces are open to the outside via two semi-exterior terraces that cut into the main rectangular volume of the house. Natural stone is used to clad the façade except in the case of the terraces where wood is used to line the walls and ceilings.

The second volume, lying perpendicular to the house, is the artists studio. This part of the building lies 80cm below the house itself in order to adapt to the topography of the site. The ceiling height however remains at the same level as the house, therefore creating a taller, more spacious environment in which to work. Unlike the house, with its terraces perforating the façade, the artists studio is a pure volume with only one covered porch that opens towards the south and provides adequate solar protection. Similar to the first volume, the studio also has two smaller extensions; the first houses a small study and the second a washing area in order to clean materials. A simple render of natural, earthy colours cover the exterior walls.....more