8 award-winning Girona houses that blend into the landscape

GironaAlthough construction in the Girona region has been recording its best figures for two consecutive years since the bursting of the real estate bubble in 2008, the fact is that this growth continues to be sustained in the renovation and new construction of single-family homes. In many cases, this growth is outside the cities: either because many families have been forced out of the city by rising prices or because the construction of second homes has not ceased.

This scenario is evident for the second consecutive year in the selection of award-winning projects in the Girona Regions Architecture Awards, organized by the Girona branch of the Catalan Association of Architects (COAC). Despite some public works or private entities, especially in Olot and Ripoll, single-family homes in small towns continue to dominate the selection in the Architecture category, where only one renovation is found in Girona city.

Joan Maria Viader, a member of the jury, along with Juan Sánchez and María José Araguren, who served as the president, states that they were very surprised by the lack of urban work. "We as the jury demand more public commissions," she adds, emphasizing that new architectural firms can also create good projects for the government, be it "a building, a street, or a square." For Viader, one of the factors they took into account for the selection was that "with the smallest resources, the greatest benefit can be obtained in terms of architecture." "Sometimes large budgets or projects aren't necessary. If they are well understood, simple, and rational, that's enough," she adds.

The result is a selection of 26 projects, 17 in the architectural section. The winner will be announced at a public event on June 13. From the ARA, like last year, we have made a selection of eight houses that all have in common the purpose of intertwining with the surrounding nature.

In the heart of the Llémena Valley, the young Girona architect Víctor Bouman has designed a new detached single-family home whose design avoids any bold architectural statement. Reminiscent of the style of the valley's humblest farmhouses, the design embraces a rather discreet and restrained presence. It is an approach based on anonymity, where the house neither stands out nor demands attention, but rather coexists with its surroundings and discreetly becomes part of the landscape. The house is located on the widest and highest terrace of the property, with splendid views of the valley, while the lower terraces contain the terrace, the vegetable garden, and the pool. It mimics the old farmhouses, but the house is heavily insulated and has an air-source heat pump air conditioning system, with very low energy consumption.

In Albons' Tres Patis House, life takes place facing inward, but it's designed to be outdoors. Tres Patis reproduces a miniature world. The Barcelona studio TWOBO, based on the most nomadic architecture of all, has built three independent pavilions connected by spaces inspired by life in the past. The first courtyard is intended to resemble the life of a village square; the second, in remembrance of the impluvium of Roman villas, like a pool of water surrounded by vegetation; and the third, the vegetable garden, like that of ancient monasteries. A plastered wall encloses the entire plot to protect it from the north winds and also from prying eyes, while in the safe space within, life flows, as it did in the Greek and Roman villas of nearby Empúries. Concrete runs through the different spaces, but TWOBO assures us that its construction is above all with air. All kinds of glazed ceramics and lattices from Bisbal d'Empordà, manufactured by Ferrés, frame this beautiful interior landscape.

A single-story house doesn't have to be I-shaped, U-shaped, or L-shaped. In the mid-20th century, a V-shaped roof became popular in the United States and became known as the butterfly. Bordils-based architect Bernat Llauradó was inspired by this trend to build this new home in Vilopriu. Different volumes surrounded by patios, planters, and flowerbeds finally open onto the front garden, avoiding the perception of a large built volume and integrating the architecture into the rural setting. The house ultimately generates a world of reflections and transparencies between the plants, glass, and interiors, as if, explains the Tallerdarquitectura studio, it were possible to walk through the garden every day from within, chasing the fragments of green that emerge within.

On the outskirts of Sant Gregori, on the way to the Llémena Valley, there's a house that embraces few right angles. Designed by the Girona studio of Olga Felip and Josep Camps, it's designed for living in the circular interior garden they've created. A space that also generates an intimate microclimate in which cooking, reading, working, sleeping, and conversation intertwine, with a tree at its center as a testament to this. For Felip and Camps, Casa 012 is a way of inhabiting a garden. But one of the revolutionary aspects of this new single-family home is its construction: the structure, roof, and façade were manufactured in a workshop and patiently assembled by Juan Carlos himself, who lives in this garden house in Roser.

Like an old railway warehouse, parallel to the old Olot-Girona railway line, this house is an ode to simplicity without sacrificing quality of life. Arnau Vergés and Jordi Cusió were commissioned to design an affordable, energy-efficient, and low-maintenance home. The result is a single, elongated ground-floor volume with a gabled roof and solar panels, which fulfills all the functions of the house: a living space with two double bedrooms and two bathrooms, a parking space, a storage room/workshop, a multipurpose roof, and a porch to protect from the light.

There are many ways to inhabit a place and create a hotel. In Capmany, this could have been done perfectly on land, but businessman Joan Pareda and his wife, Zora Elbadoui, sought to build a unique space that would offer a unique experience. It was while reflecting on how to inhabit a plot of land, taking into account its location, that architect Toni Gironès decided to excavate the soil, leave the existing granite rocks, and create a habitable garden surrounded by five small circular rooms within large prefabricated concrete collectors found in cities. Placed radially on a large pre-existing stone, they create the Riad de l'Empordà. A habitable garden, an oasis, where the four elements intersect: the thermal inertia of the earth, cross ventilation, the presence of water, and the evapotranspiration of vegetation. Furthermore, each room is named after a local grape variety.

Is it possible to convert a 17th-century mill into a luxury villa for rent to foreigners, but also do so with simple materials? This is the aim of this restoration by Lluís Escarmís, who sought to create fluid spaces after consolidating the old walls and opening a new section where the old pond stood, respecting the direction of the original facades. The building was designed specifically for its location, as the north-facing openings are more closed, protected from the north winds, and the south-facing ones have large windows to enjoy a garden with Mediterranean plants. The wooden roof has photovoltaic panels, and the pool is saltwater.

If you've ever traveled to Colera by train and descended the steps leading to the beach, you'll have come across a large, old, vaulted building with a whitewashed facade and blue windows. It's surprising because it doesn't have a bell tower, and you quickly realize it's not a chapel. In fact, it's quite large and has been renovated since last year. It's Casa Salaó, a civil engineering project linked to the cooperative activity of the salting industry, with large ceramic arches and wood and tile roofs. A jewel of maritime heritage that has been able to be recovered thanks to traditional techniques passed on through training to new generations.