Home and light of the Mediterranean sunset. Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset
11/10/2021.
[Valencia] Spain
metalocus, VALERIA OZUNA
metalocus, VALERIA OZUNA
Sitting directly behind Valencia's Las Arenas beach, the old fisherman's neighborhood of El Cabanyal is the context in which the rehabilitation of the Lurbe house has been designed by Abalosllopis architects in collaboration with Jordi Marset.
The Lurbe house was built in 1932 and survived the Spanish post-war period thanks to the straperlo, illegal trade of goods subject to some kind of tax or fee by the State. It was inhabited and re-inhabited, later renovated, until it was finally worn out by use.
The Lurbe house was built in 1932 and survived the Spanish post-war period thanks to the straperlo, illegal trade of goods subject to some kind of tax or fee by the State. It was inhabited and re-inhabited, later renovated, until it was finally worn out by use.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Site plan. Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset.
Floor plan. Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset.
Section. Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset.
Section. Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset.
Axonometry. Lurbe House by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset.
The renovation project by the architects Abalosllopis and Jordi Marset adds an architectural layer to the uncovered gallery to transform it into an outdoor room that invites use and permanence.
The design decisions result in a new sequence of spaces and elements, which allow sewing the contemporary to the past, the deliberate to the accidental, and then refined to the everyday.
The design decisions result in a new sequence of spaces and elements, which allow sewing the contemporary to the past, the deliberate to the accidental, and then refined to the everyday.
Description of project by Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset
The Lurbe house was built in 1932 in the Cabanyal neighborhood, a traditional seaside neighborhood on the shores of the Mediterranean. Just 100 meters away, the house of the writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, with its imposing gallery of Ionic pilasters and caryatids overlooking the sea, also represented the aspirations of its first owners. After the civil war in 1939, the house of Blasco Ibáñez was expropriated, transformed into recreational headquarters of the Falange, uninhabited, forgotten, and demolished to be rebuilt 70 years later; the Lurbe house however survived the post-war period thanks to the "estraperlo", it was inhabited and re-inhabited, renovated, and worn out by the use.
From that longed-for exterior room, the project now adds an architectural layer, intertwining the history of both houses. The demolition of the rear façade uncovers what was once the uncovered gallery - covered and closed at some uncertain point in its history - and transforms it now into an outdoor room that invites use and permanence, extending toward the sun and air currents, taking advantage of the benign weather conditions, as did Blasco Ibáñez's dining room.
The new sequence of spaces and elements, sews the contemporary to the past, the deliberate to the accidental, and then refined to the everyday.
The recovered balconies, the relocated glazed interior doors, the rich decoration of the bathroom ceiling and its deep skylight, which hides the secrets of the Spanish postwar period, coexist with the now naked beams that supported the reed roof, the new barrel vault of the lobby, or the gleams of the ceramic lattice that reflects the light from the west, and transports us to the nearby Mediterranean Sea.
By reconstructing the rich social history of the house, not only from small episodes of conservation and repair but also with entirely new work, the project introduces an imperfect quality to an imperfect house. Time refuses any attempt at global conception, however, a leisurely material and temporal bricolage bring together the visible and the invisible into a new whole.
At least for now.
More information
Architects
Abalosllopis + Jordi Marset.
Project team
Ana Ábalos, Pablo Llopis, Jordi Marset.
Collaborators
Eduardo Puertes.
Area
101 sqm.
Dates
2021.
Location
El Cabanyal, Valencia, Spain.
Photography
Ana Ábalos, Pablo Llopis. Abalosllopis
Abalosllopis architects is a workshop where architecture is slowly handcraft, across a breadth of scales, with special attention and carefulness.
Abalosllopis architects, Ana Ábalos Ramos, and Pablo Llopis Fernández have more than ten years of experience working across a breadth of scales and building types, from apartment refurbishment to landscape, both in Spain and abroad.
Ana Ábalos (Master’s Professional Degree in Architecture) studied architecture at UPV- Universitat Politécnica de València. She obtained her Doctorate in Architecture with her thesis ‘A&P Smithson: The Transient and the Permanent’. She also holds a Scientific Master's degree in Architectural Design from the UPV (2012). She has been an exhibition curator and has published several articles on architecture. As co-director, she has joint responsibility for architectural research direction as well as taking overall responsibility for the management of the practice. She is a registered architect in Spain since 2004.
Pablo Llopis (Master’s Professional Degree in Architecture) studied architecture at UPV- Universitat Politécnica de València and was awarded the top grade of “Excellent” for his master’s thesis. Prior founding abalosllopis architects, he worked as project architect with Fernández-Vivancos Studio and Jorge Torres Cueco Arquitecto. As co-director, he has joint responsibility for design and construction direction as well as taking overall responsibility for the management of the practice. He is a registered architect in Spain since 2003.
Abalosllopis architects, Ana Ábalos Ramos, and Pablo Llopis Fernández have more than ten years of experience working across a breadth of scales and building types, from apartment refurbishment to landscape, both in Spain and abroad.
Ana Ábalos (Master’s Professional Degree in Architecture) studied architecture at UPV- Universitat Politécnica de València. She obtained her Doctorate in Architecture with her thesis ‘A&P Smithson: The Transient and the Permanent’. She also holds a Scientific Master's degree in Architectural Design from the UPV (2012). She has been an exhibition curator and has published several articles on architecture. As co-director, she has joint responsibility for architectural research direction as well as taking overall responsibility for the management of the practice. She is a registered architect in Spain since 2004.
Pablo Llopis (Master’s Professional Degree in Architecture) studied architecture at UPV- Universitat Politécnica de València and was awarded the top grade of “Excellent” for his master’s thesis. Prior founding abalosllopis architects, he worked as project architect with Fernández-Vivancos Studio and Jorge Torres Cueco Arquitecto. As co-director, he has joint responsibility for design and construction direction as well as taking overall responsibility for the management of the practice. He is a registered architect in Spain since 2003.
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