Living in a prize-winning house built as a 21st-century Roman 'domus'

Sant Gregori (Gironès)A little over a year ago, Joan Carles and Roser moved into their new, newly built house, on the outskirts of Sant Gregori in the direction of the forests of the Llémena valley. Around the same time, the home, designed by architects Josep Camps and Olga Felip, received a special mention at the Girona Region Architecture Awards from the College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC). The house, named 012, is truly spectacular. From the street, the four-sided facade is striking, made of off-white metal panels with oblique finishes, forming a very clean and contemporary image. 

The jewel in the crown, however, is on the inside, as the entire construction is organized around an uncovered circular interior patio, with a tree in the middle, in the style of Roman domus from classical antiquity. Completely surrounded by glass, the patio floods all the rooms on all four corners with natural light and turns this modern atrium into the center of domestic life. A green, circular core, devoid of walls, around which the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, and bedroom revolve. A garden that inhabits the house, rather than a house with a garden.

This decision, unusual in new construction homes, is the result of many conversations between the owner couple and the architects, whom they met thanks to a recommendation from a friend in the sector. "These are the kinds of things that, when you imagine them, you have doubts, but now that we see it done, we are very happy. It gives a lot of light because, despite being a circle, it creates a polygon with 24 faces of glass, two and a half meters high. From all points of the house, it creates very good visual diagonals. It's perfect," explains Joan Carles.

The house looks inwards, although it also has windows facing outwards, especially on the north side, which looks directly at the woods and rapeseed fields, without any urbanized areas. However, the views that most enchant the owners are the interior ones: "In the bedroom it's very pleasant because from the bed we see the tree, something that in the apartment where we lived before, in the center of Girona, would have been unthinkable. And the dining room and kitchen are also spectacular. In addition, the ceiling is a cone that opens up a direct view of the sky, you can see the stars. It's a sensation we never imagined," continues Rosa.

However, as is logical, a stained-glass window with so much light also has some drawbacks. The main one is the heat during the summer. "Here, in Sant Gregori, which is a bit elevated with respect to Girona, we usually have a couple of degrees more. A lot of sun enters and we always have to use aerothermal heating. Despite the air chamber, the laminates and the insulation of the glass, when the sun enters diagonally and directly hits the floor, it ends up heating up a lot and it seems almost like a mini-oven," admits Joan Carles. They were already aware of this small handicap since they conceived the project, but with curtains and cooling systems, the problem can be solved and, in return, in winter they barely have to turn on the heating.

Owner and head of the structure

The exterior walls and the roof (not the tiling) also have a special meaning in the project. The reason is that they were manufactured and assembled by Joan Carles himself, who manages a technical engineering company specializing in metal structures and industrial machinery made of iron and stainless steel. "We spoke with the architects so that I could define the entire metal part myself, so that I would feel the house was more mine. We didn't want a conventional concrete or brick house. We looked for a solution based on metal panels to clad the entire structure," recalls the owner.

The result, after many months of testing, studies, and dedication, is a metal structure that supports battens on which the exterior sheet metal is fixed, leaving a ventilated air chamber that favors ventilation, thermal insulation, and prevents moisture. On the entire main floor, there is no trace of concrete, only in the foundations and the semi-underground garage.