05 AM arquitectura crafts a bamboo facade for house in aiguablava

a house with mediterranean views

Girona-based studio 05 AM Arquitectura takes to the coastal cliffs of Catalonia to design its House in Aiguablava. Occupying a high precipice, the Costa Brava dwelling overlooks the sparkling waters, opening broadly out to capture Mediterranean views, breezes, and sunlight with its sliding facade of bamboo cane. Although the design suggests a single story house perched atop its site, it subtly spans three levels, embedding into the slope. Thus, the house maintains a humble and low-lying presence while providing enough space for its occupants.

images © José Hevia

the house harmonizes with the aiguablava cliffs

In Aiguablava, the design team at 05 AM Arquitectura plans a house that is simultaneously outward-looking and hidden from the street. Along the lower level, embedded into the earth, the entrance to the house is sheltered by a retaining wall overgrown with ivy — ensuring privacy for the sleeping areas.

‘The apparent volume is positioned as far forward as possible towards the street in order to free up as much space as possible on the south side where there will be the garden of the house,’ write the architects, ‘thus skillfully resolving the dichotomy between enjoying magnificent views looking northwards and a sunny garden on the south side.’

The home’s shared spaces occupy the uppermost level, enclosed on the north and south sides entirely in a bamboo screen. While these screens are allowed to slide open as desired, the living area becomes a shaded extension of the garden, open to the swimming pool and red cliffs to the south, and the framed Mediterranean views to the north.

05 am arquitectura’s playful use of bamboo

05 AM Arquitectura’s sliding bamboo facade creates playful shadows and transparencies, filtering natural sunlight along the interiors of the Aiguablava House. ‘The house clearly and evidently shows the natural aspect of its materials,’ the architects continue. ‘The relief and the irregularity and imperfection of the reeds provide qualities that have also been translated into the sgraffito relief of the lime mortar cladding on the façade.‘ The bamboo cane harmonizes with a neutral material palette including concrete flooring and furnishings of warm oak wood, which overall achieves an atmosphere that is calm and inviting.

The team concludes: ‘The house manages to blur the limits between inside and outside, generating a continuity that flows between the sunny garden and the magnificent views of the sea cut out by the rocky profile of Aiguablava. It defines a protected area, but very well related to the immediate surroundings, where we find the comfort and warmth of contact with sincere and natural materials.’

the house becomes a frame for the views and an area of relationship with the sunny garden