Terraces at the top

The plot is located on the slope of the Los Monasterios urbanization, in the municipal district of Sagunto. Its elongated and irregular geometry responds to its condition of urban edge, configuring the steep boundary between the urbanised area and the natural space.

The rugged topography will, however, be the main characteristic of the place that will decisively mark the architectural morphology. Situated in a privileged location close to the summit, from its position it dominates its entire surroundings, impressing the strong viewpoint character that the intervention possesses.

The main access to the plot, both pedestrian and wheeled, is through the Paseo de los Monasterios. In order to prevent the areas of the accesses and the car park from being computed for building purposes, the entire floor is located below ground level, with semi-buried accesses that are partially hidden. This space also assumes the provision of storage rooms and the centralization of common facilities.

From this first buried level, three vertical communication cores give access to the dwellings, reducing as much as possible the surfaces of common elements and circulations. The three stairwells and elevator, with independent accesses, connect the different levels with sufficient flexibility to be able to respond to significant variations in floor plan.

The spectacular views that open southeast from the top of the summit unconsciously attract their contemplation. The project will overturn the main spaces of the dwellings towards this orientation, trying to raise the level of support of the building to gain, thanks to the greater height, the maximum possible field of vision. A panoramic sweep over the Turia river plain and the Mediterranean Sea.

With a slope close to 35%, the steep rock wall allows the development of a work in a much more complex section, which brings spatial and volumetric richness to the proposal. The horizontal platforms adapt to the irregular topography of the slope in a staggered manner in line with the natural slope of the terrain.

The guiding forces emanating from the irregular geometry of the hillside are combined with the anthropomorphic limits of urban regulation to configure the definitive geometry of the proposal. The platforms widen in the central zone and narrow at the ends, breaking at inflection points until finally adapting to the conditions of intonation.

The experience of the single-family dwelling is closely linked to the enjoyment of an exterior space that becomes a direct continuation of the interiors. The terraces, which uninterruptedly border the glass envelope of the building, become the main space of opportunity for the dwellings. These surfaces are consciously equivalent to those of interior spaces, the limits of which are blurred by the flexible opening of the large glass cloths. Cantilevered platforms from which to savour the sublime spectacle of the infinite landscape.