Monochrome in a house. Black house by MDAMMM
20/03/2023.
[Barcelona] Spain
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO, ELENA DE LA FUENTE
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO, ELENA DE LA FUENTE
The architects MDAMMM have renovated a single-family home named Black House located in San Cugat del Vallés, a municipality located in the Vallés Occidental region, in the province of Barcelona.
The project is an update of an existing house, in which the finishes and colours had become outdated with the passage of time, giving a new approach based on four main axes that are monochromatism, openness accents, verticality and capillarity.
The project is an update of an existing house, in which the finishes and colours had become outdated with the passage of time, giving a new approach based on four main axes that are monochromatism, openness accents, verticality and capillarity.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
Elevations and details of windows. Black house by MDAMMM.
Elevations and details of windows. Black house by MDAMMM.
Elevations and details of windows. Black house by MDAMMM.
MDAMMM decided to project a house in which all the elements are painted in black to give greater contrast with the vegetation and keep the volume of the house intact.
The floor plan of the house is V-shaped, this geometric shape helps to integrate the garden into the house in a very natural way. The verticality of the property is projected from profiles that are arranged in different cadences and lengths, these separations between the profiles allow the house to be lighter and more changeable.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli
The floor plan of the house is V-shaped, this geometric shape helps to integrate the garden into the house in a very natural way. The verticality of the property is projected from profiles that are arranged in different cadences and lengths, these separations between the profiles allow the house to be lighter and more changeable.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli
Description of project by MDAMMM
"The design idea was to keep the volume but colour everything black"
The owners showed us the single-family home they had just bought, on the outskirts of Sant Cugat, built in 2010, nondescript and with little aesthetic appeal; the vertical faces were exposed brick in ochre tones and all other elements featured different grey tones and finishes.
The ground plan revealed a unique V-shaped geometry wrapped around the garden, although it was not well-defined by its enclosures. Despite this, the interior design was correct and fit the client’s needs.
A 180º design along 4 axes
The idea we proposed to the owners, right after the first visit, was the possibility of redesigning the existing volume without having to change it, bearing in mind that the finishes and colours of the original materials chosen, were now outdated and obsolete, which were what we would have to adapt and modernise.
Our intervention would draw attention to the features we found quite interesting to conserve, leaving the rest in the background.
Black house by MDAMMM. Photography by Filippo Poli.
The core areas on which to structure the reform are:
1. Monochromatism
2. Accents on the openings
3. Verticality
4. Capillarity
1. Monochromatism and 2. Accents on the openings
We kept the volume intact in the project, deciding to colour all elements black, thus enhancing the relationship with the surrounding vegetation.
We also accented the openings with large protruding sheet metal angular frames, which project over vertical lathing with hollow sections, as a double skin on the building.
"The project seems nearly reduced to a graphic sign, monochrome and essential"
Filippo Poli, photographer
3. Verticality
The sections were laid out in different cadences and lengths, emphasising and multiplying the façades with many more vertical planes than the original.
4. Capillarity
The separation of the sections from the façade enriches the entire building, making it lighter and more mutable. In the daytime, the casting of shadows varies by the movement of the sun and, at night, when there is no daylight, it is illuminated by the interior lighting.
More information
Architects
Date
2022.
Location
Sant Cugat del Vallès - Barcelona, España.
Photography
Marc Duran, Alba Masides, Margarita Martínez. Mdammm
Mdammm. Architecture studio founded in 2008 by Marc Duran, Alba Masides and Margarita Martínez. What we believe could be most interesting about our collaboration, since 2008, would be having been able to convey a transversal and interdisciplinary vision in what we understand as the culture of the project. Everything that interest us and that we have focused on, each one from their particular point of view: the plasticity of graphic design, the beauty of detail and the proportion of the piece that fits in form and function, the search for comfort and the use of rationality in favor of harmony in an interior space and the importance of universal accessibility as a social function. Proposing sustainability and energy efficiency where it does not want to be —almost as an obligation— as part of common sense in the (necessary and already essential) rationalization of the use of resources. And always, with great respect for the pre-existence of the site, space, environment and the voids that relate them.
Perhaps because of all this, our projects, our discourse, do not follow a straight line, but drift towards new places that we want and hope are unexplored.
Perhaps because of all this, our projects, our discourse, do not follow a straight line, but drift towards new places that we want and hope are unexplored.
Categories
Our selection
