The main idea to transform this existing home is based on the reinterpretation of the limits with the landscape and the adjoining plots, as well as the relationship between the pre-existing properties and their possible growth.
MBT HOUSE by Horma estudio. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
Descripción del proyecto por Horma estudio Description of project by Horma estudio
Intervene from tradition and context.
The project consists of a specific intervention in a historic maritime environment with very defined established rules. The series of homes offers us the opportunity to intervene in one of them and its adjacent void. The urban structure establishes a relationship of semi-detached houses typical of the historic fishing neighborhood in which it is located. The current Coastal Law, strict in the capacity of intervention in this type of property, also prevents the reconstruction of homes deteriorated over time, and this is where the void arises that gives rise to a new interpretation of the existing typology.
The main reflection of the project consists of the reinterpretation of the dividing line between plots. Until now, it continues as a boundary between properties, but now open to a free layout capable of shaping both the fullness and the void that it separates.
This limit, previously rigid, is released in the scope of the expansion, evidencing, on the one hand, the relationship between the original preexistence and its expansion and, on the other, the relationship between interior and exterior.
MBT HOUSE by Horma estudio. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
The original house, of approximately 55 square meters, requires an extension to provide the required family use, maximizing the possibilities of a summer house, while optimizing each square meter to minimize the resources invested. The interior redefinition of the existing construction will make it possible to define and link the strictly necessary spaces, also articulating the relationship between the interior and exterior to make the most of an intentionally limited surface.
The expanded surface adds 20 square meters that, instead of trying to be a recognizable annex, aims to give meaning to a global strategy, complementing the original volume and giving meaning to a specific situation in the place where it is located.
A delicate work in plan and in section, where centimeters acquire a fundamental importance, allows defining nuances that give the property and proportion that each space needs to define itself.
Materially, a ceramic tile runs through the exterior spaces, also entering the interior to once again question the limits of space. This platelet, converted into a texture in the extension of its surface, does not lose its dimension and unitary character, being recognized as such in the movements that the section proposes.
MBT HOUSE by Horma estudio. Photograph by Mariela Apollonio.
In addition to the ceramic, the rest of the materials that construct the project are also exposed in their rawness and naturalness, working together to characterize the space and promote the link between the interior and exterior spaces. Concrete, polished MDF wood, ceramics and lime seek to create a new spatiality with the original materials, already existing in the adjacent homes, thus favoring the integration of the home into its environment.
Mediterranean architecture in its own place.
