This bright-white house in Alicante by Spanish studio Fran Silvestre Arquitectos features an 18-metre-long balcony that stretches out towards the Balearic Sea (+ slideshow + movie).
Fran Silvestre Arquitectos designed the structure as a single monolithic volume that nestles against the rockface whilst also projecting out towards the shoreline.
Living rooms and bedrooms are contained within the protruding upper storey and offer panoramic views through an entirely glazed facade.
A staircase climbs through and across an exterior wall to connect these rooms with an infinity pool and terrace.
Concrete was used for the entire structure, but the walls were coated in stucco to create the clean white aesthetic.
The architects explain how they always try to design houses around the habits of future residents. "Dialogue is always present, since the work becomes part of the identity of those who inhabit it," they explain. "This dialogue seeks comfort and also utility, and examines the conflicts and joys of daily acts of human life."
Others houses by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos that we've featured include a residence where all the rooms are on show and a wedge-shaped house that thrusts out from a rock face.
See more Spanish houses on Dezeen, including a house with four hovering concrete wings.
Photography is by Diego Opazo, movie is by Alfonso Calza.
Here's a project description from Fran Silvestre Arquitectos:
House on the Cliff
Calpe, Alicante.
We like the virtue of architecture which makes possible constructing a house on air, walking on water...
An abrupt plot of land overlooking the sea, where what is best is to do nothing. It invites to stay.
A piece that respects the land's natural contour is set in it.
Above, a shadow, the house itself, looking calmly at the Mediterranean.
Under the sun, the swimming-pool brings us closer to the sea, it becomes a quiet cove.
In the inflection point, the stairway proposes a evocative path, a garden in the basement...
Due to the steepness of the plot and the desire to contain the house in just one level, a three-dimensional structure of reinforced concrete slabs and screens adapting to the plot's topography was chosen, thus minimizing the earthwork.
This monolithic, stone-anchored structure generates a horizontal platform from the accessing level, where the house itself is located.
The swimming-pool is placed on a lower level, on an already flat area of the site.
The concrete structure is insulated from the outside and then covered by a flexible and smooth white lime stucco.
The rest of materials, walls, pavements, the gravel on the roof... all maintain the same colour, respecting the traditional architecture of the area, emphasizing it and simultaneously underlining the unity of the house.
Architecture: Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
Project team: Fran Silvestre, María José Sáez - Principals in charge
Maria Masià, Adrián Mora, Jordi Martínez José V. Miguel - Collaborating architects
Structural engineer: David Gallardo | UPV
Building engineer: Vicente Ramos, Esperanza Corrales, Javier Delgado
Interior design: ALFARO HOFMANN
Collaborators: Fran Ayala, Ángel Fito
Contractor: Construcciones Alabort
Location: Toix Mascarat, Calpe, Alicante
Site area: 962,84 sq m
Built area: 242,00 sq m
Cost: (P.E.M.) 650.000 euros
Above: lower floor plan - click above for larger image
Above: middle floor plan - click above for larger image
Above: upper floor plan - click above for larger image
Above: roof plan - click above for larger image
Above: cross section one - click above for larger image
Above: cross section two - click above for larger image
Above: cross section three - click above for larger image
My fridge feels less cold.
OMG. I would be so scared to use that pool, though the view must be absolutely amazing.
My first thought was, “Didn’t I see this in one of the Connery-Bond films?” To me the style has the look of a building which would have been constructed 50+ years ago.
“Would have been constructed 50+ years ago”? With that cantilever? Not sure about that.
Yeah, I agree. However, my comment was a reference to “the look” of the building. :)
The kind of project one does in the second year of uni: simple but fun. Glad to see someone gets to build something like this, but this is definitely a flashback to the 1950s-1960s. Time to move on, guys!
A modern classic. It’s refreshing to see some simple lines. Too many just-because-you-can-doesn’t-always-mean-you-should projects out there. Now, where is my white cat?
Sanitised for your protection.
Serge, if that's the case I wish all students would quit after their second year! With a landscape like this it doesn't need to be more complicated. WOW!
I might as well give up now. Awesome.
Why not use the protected area below the cantileverd volume? It should comunicate with the interior of the house and have a function, I think.
Interesting comment. I think the reason is the slope of the ground (or rock) which left a small area. And using that area would visually “break” that slope. I personnnaly love the fact there is only that staircase going through that empty volume.
The wise man built his house upon the rock, but he paid a little more!
A very good project, at last.
The landscape would look so much nicer without that building there. Architecture is a crime when destroying nature like this.
Serge, you talk like a jealous teenager. What does it mean to move on? To wrap everything in zinc or plastic panels made in China by German companies? Dude – ingenuity is in purity and simplicity of form. Architecture is form first of all. Leave technology to SE and M&E guys. And BTW, for this region painted white mortar/blockwork is a standard since ancient Greece due to specific environment conditions.
Me? Jealous? I don’t think so. The only reason why anyone would build something so blatantly out of place is either because they always had a school dream of designing a Corbusier-type modernist object or because some know-nothing respect-nada client paid the architect good money to design them a look-at-me house with fantastic views.
In either case, it’s a blast from the past and let’s leave it at that. Some of you guys out there need to learn a thing or two from projects like Falling Water by Wright or The Tea House by Siza. Now THOSE are the projects that respect the context while still deserving to be called a modern classic.
PS: DaFink, no offense but that’s just my opinion and it’s okay to think differently. Cheers.
@Andy: it’s in Alicante. There’s no need to create warm atmosphere at home if it’s so hot outside.
When architecture is done right, it reaches poetic levels.
I live a chaotic life… I’m surrounded by junk and gadgets. This project made me think about serenity, peace and reflection. I may not be able to see my white cat, but I can hear it… surprisingly… I can hear nature for the very first time. I would love to be able to get out of the madness of my work environment and go home to relax and have a break from the contemporary overcrowded lifestyle of today. Brilliant!
Sad to see how people are easily influenced. Here they dont like it and on ArchDaily everybody found this project amazing! As I already said, I’m glad to see a good project like this: pure, without useless things.
The sculptural simple white exterior is lovely but it might have been better to tone the concept down for the interior, which is way too cold for my taste.
May be the Casa Malaparte of our century.
Except that the Libera’s project was all in stone. Where is it in Alicante?
Don’t even compare the two, mate! Casa Malaparte is not so much in your face. If you go to Capri, you will find it hard to spot the house. This white house is beautiful but should’ve been built somewhere else.
Wow! I could well be too scared to make use of that pool, though the particular view has to be absolutely incredible. When architecture is completed right, it reaches poetic levels.
Beautiful, sculptural architecture with the severe contrast of man-made monolithic objects and nature’s rugged answer of surrounding rock, in near perfect harmony. A shame the interior (of which we see hardly as much as the external shots, which could almost be described as ‘archiporn’) does not come up to scratch in aesthetic appeal.
As for the concept – architects, eh? When it comes to any opportunity to hang a building over a cliff, they cantilever it alone (see what I did there?)
I don’t hate the architecture of this building. Architects these days have a keen tendency to either blockade or curve buildings. However, this building isn’t over-the-top which I can appreciate. It’s definitely still residing in the modern sector of planning as opposed to post-modern.
She has a wonderful way with light and volume and a sure sense of occasion. As beautiful by day as by night.
Amazing project. I like the original combination of modern and classic. It looks impressive.
Less is less this time. Feels too plain.