La Ricarda, a home designed by Antoni Bonet i Castellana, had several phases. Initially, a remote project was proposed, from Argentina, in 1949, which would finally be modified by a second proposal that obtained permits in 1953. The project is characterized by being a modular construction that extends over the land, integrating into the forest of pine trees under the roof of partitioned vaults.
The house stands on a platform that modifies and levels the natural ground, a series of platforms that become the canvas on which the grid that organizes the interior space and its surroundings rises. The closest part of the building to the sea is 130 m from the beach sand, with a maximum built height of 3.75 m above the modified soil.
Antonio Bonet designed the house on a single floor, from the juxtaposition of modules (which are both spatial and structural) with which the rooms are formed, responding to an articulated program as if it were a cluster of connected interior spaces, leaving intermediate exterior spaces that collect or "embrace" the external anthropized nature, which allows creating transitional spaces with nature from the inside.
The house stands on a platform that modifies and levels the natural ground, a series of platforms that become the canvas on which the grid that organizes the interior space and its surroundings rises. The closest part of the building to the sea is 130 m from the beach sand, with a maximum built height of 3.75 m above the modified soil.
Antonio Bonet designed the house on a single floor, from the juxtaposition of modules (which are both spatial and structural) with which the rooms are formed, responding to an articulated program as if it were a cluster of connected interior spaces, leaving intermediate exterior spaces that collect or "embrace" the external anthropized nature, which allows creating transitional spaces with nature from the inside.
"The module is a multiple of the sub-module that governs the entire work. Stone slabs for the floor, doors, cabinets, corridors, exterior carpentry, etc."
"La Ricarda: Antonio Bonet, arquitecto." Arquitectura nº 74. Madrid: COAM. Febrero, 1965, pp. 11-13.
Access occurs through one of these patios in which a small pond and a sculpture were placed; the living area can be opened or closed adapting to different scales of uses ranging from meetings to concerts. The program dedicates to children spaces with an enclosed playground for games; The master bedroom moves away from the complex and is located to the west as an almost independent space (it is joined by a glass passage), establishing a relationship with the outside that is filtered through porches, which are used throughout the house.
The vaulted roof of the modules that directs the user inside the house, towards the sea, is the reflection of the most important element of the project, the structure. A structure that uses the lessons learned in the study of Le Corbusier and his friends at GATEPAC. A uniform modular system built from a grid measuring 8.82 x 8.82 meter, which defines a network of metal pillars (2 UPNs of 13 cm) on which a vaulted roof of 7.5 m span is raised, which reaches the aforementioned maximum height of 3.10m. The vaults are supported by large lateral girders (1.30 m on each side) that collect the horizontal thrust, in which the gutter is integrated to drain the roofs.
With this structure, the facades are not structural and only function as an enclosure, on which ceramic compositions or large windows are made, which give the house great spatial permeability.
In 1997 the family commissioned the architects Fernando Alvarez and Jordi Roig Prozorovch the house renovation, whose initial work focused on the roof and carpentry, to later be a more intense process of rehabilitation of the entire house. A relationship that generated a research process on the exceptional work of Bonet. (1)
1.- Fernando Álvarez, Jordi Roig. «Bonet. Antoni Bonet Castellana, 1913-1989». Madrid: Ministerio de Fomento - Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya, 1996.
