Brick House

Brick House
by GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS

The project rehearses the pairing of a typological approach and a conceptual phenomenological outcome. “Typology” and “installation” assembled as a possible single design technique, with the intention of enhancing the experience of climate, site, and programme.

This is tested by employing a direct and recognizable organizational scheme, in the belief that an enlarged perception of textures, humidity, light or smell is facilitated by a certain legibility and figurative character of architecture, instead of the opposite.

By remaking the typical L-shaped country house disposition, an open-air cluster is attained, one in which the pieces are tied together by a horizontal roof that acts as a large tray, where the main pitched volume is sited and whose underbelly shelters a generous open space, turning the house into a small settlement and encouraging outdoor life during the summer months. Handmade bricks made in the village of Muriedas are employed all over, supporting local production and producing a somehow atavistic imagen.

Water and fire as a dialectical pair are laid together with the intention of grounding experience in a humid climate where rain is omnipresent, and in a family group that regularly gathers around the fire. Thus, a “fire pavilion” is split off from the main house to seclude that singular moment: fire reflected in a dark pond that receives water from the roof’s gutters. Together with the occasional outdoor bonfire, the compound recalls certain moments of XXth century tradition and experimentation like Aalto’s Muuratsalo House or Yves Klein’s fire installations at Mies van der Rohe’s Krefeld Villas.

Credits:
Architects: GARCIAGERMAN Arquitectos
Team: Jacobo García-Germán, Raquel Díaz de la Campa, Miguel López, Marta Roldán, Jorge Ferrer, María Ramos, Sofía Fuentes, Daphne Vakalopoulou
Consultants: Angel David Moreno (quantity surveyor), Consult-e (structural engineers), Suma Ingeniería Aplicada S.L. (mechanicals)
Builder: Fernandez Rosillo y Cia S.L.
Location: Somoboo, Santander, Spain
Date: 2020
Photography: Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)