Row House

Olot, Girona

Photo © Hisao Suzuki

Architects: RCR Arquitectes

Location: Olot, Girona
Year: 2012

In the architects’ home town, a new house was inserted into the space between two walls when an old house was removed. The main façade has been preserved, as required by the town for heritage purposes, and the new house is conceived as a single space with “floating” platforms at different levels to create the interior living spaces. Several of the platforms serve as seating benches and frame the space.

Although the space is almost entirely open, privacy is afforded by limiting views to some areas. There are two side corridors that run along the depth of the building, encased with steel slats extending to the ceiling that houses the staircases, bathrooms, and utility rooms. The wall towards the back garden is glass, fusing interior and exterior.

The idea pursued throughout the entire project is to return to what is essential to a home, reducing the number of parts to those that are absolutely necessary, and rethinking the nature of the house to allow the life inside to flow naturally.