dozens of white cubes spread over a pine forest in the spanish countryside

L’Alzina by Jaime Prous Architects lays 23 white homes on a hill

Jaime Prous Architects design a complex of twenty-three white homes spreading over a dense pine forest on a hillside of Caldes de Malavella, Spain. Gently sloping down to a landscape of meadows and lakes, the site shields under the thick shade of the pines, while the architecture hides between the greenery in a subtle and surprising gesture. Each home forms out of cubes in different proportions set at various levels adapting to the natural terrain. The white geometrical volumes are grouped to reduce visual impact overlooking the views from the highest point of the hill.

all images by Alejo Bagué

the design recalls Mediterranean vernacular architecture

The design team at Jaime Prous Architects draws from Mediterranean vernacular architecture for the design of the L’Alzina residential complex. All the housing units share the same characteristics and palette of colors, with soil red, for the flooring contrasting the greenery of the location, and pure white, for the rest of the architecture, the windows, walls, and ceilings, resembling the whitewashed Spanish villages. Traditional models of minimal houses with little ornamental elements high ceilings and large wall surfaces are echoed in the project.

The apparent monotony of the structure is interrupted by five types of housing, which adapt to the variable topography forming in two levels, with entrances on both, preserving the original sloping terrain and hill landscape. The structure composes of twenty-three cubes opened on three sides and provided with a private patio, and porch, and equipped with a swimming pool facing the dense pine forest. The architecture of simple lines and geometric rhythms relates to the surrounding landscape organically, without imposing itself on it.

the geometric white volumes blend in with the natural surroundings

Jaime Prous Architects draws from Mediterranean vernacular architecture for the design of  L’Alzina

the volumes of the housing complex create a built landscape of different perspectives and orientation

the architecture relates to the surrounding landscape organically, without imposing itself on it

the units are equipped with a swimming pool facing the dense pine forest

simple lines and geometric rhythms define the project by Jaime Prous Architects

tranquility, intimacy, and calmness are established through the interior arrangement

1/3

the purity of the geometry is reflected in the interior, while light and shadow filter through the compartments

the architecture of Portuguese architects Souto de Moura and Alvaro Siza is echoed in the design

the interplay of shadows and light reflects on the surfaces generating a scenographic quality

project info:

name: L’Alzina
designer: Jaime Prous Architects | @jprousarchitects

design team: Jaime Prous, Antón Monedero, Àlex Pineda, and Eduard Romero

collaborators: Jordi Chopo, Joan Ramón Blasco, Oriol Ruiz, and Marcos Muñoz

location: Caldes de Malavella, Spain

photography: Alejo Bagué

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom