The perforated brick walls of this triangular house in Barcelona overlap at the corners.

Spanish studio H Arquitectes purposely designed the single-storey House 712 with simplistic construction details so that any builder could put it together.

An air chamber functions as a ventilation channel behind the perforated facade, while rainwater naturally drains off the walls through cavities in the brickwork.

Three bedrooms, a study, a kitchen-diner and a living room all fan around a triangular hallway at the centre of the house.

H Arquitectes always name their buildings with a number - see more of their projects here.

Photography is by Adrià Goula.

Here's some more text from H Arquitectes:

House 712

The proposal wants to occupy all the buildable part of the parcel by means of a ground floor house, entailing a triangle shaped plan with each side parallel to its correspondent plot limit.

This triangular geometry minimizes the distribution spaces (having only a central one), reduces the cost and allows a constant and homogeneous relation between both the inside and the outside.

Because of the ground level difference between site and street (the highest one), the triangular roof, almost an icon, becomes the fourth façade of the house.

While designing and planning the project, the budget was cut by 65%.

This fact strongly conditioned all the construction decisions: systems, materials, etc.

By removing all the superfluous and unnecessary elements, the house was given both an inside and an outside which are extremely austere, powerful and very expressive.

Situation: Gualba, Barcelona.
Author: H ARQUITECTES (David Lorente, Josep Ricart, Xavier Ros, Roger Tudó)
Collaborators: Montse Fornés, architect (Harquitectes) Anna Bonet, interiorista (Harquitectes) Iñaki González de Mendiguchia, technical architect

Year of realization: 2008-2011
Surface constructed: 127,40 m2
Budget: 130.000€
Constructor: Construcciones Jufraed 2001, S.L.

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Barcelona studio H Arquitectes have completed an apartment block in Barcelona where shutters seem to disappear into the stone-clad facade.

Called Housing 137, the building is clad in basalt stone while the shutters are covered in a material made of cement and wood fibres.

Wooden recesses form terraces and balconies.

More about H Arquitectes on Dezeen:

School Gym 704
Casa 205

Here's some more information from the architects:
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SUMMARY

The Urban Planning for ‘Plaça de l'Església’ in Granollers intends to regain the role of this square within the old part of town.

Our plot is the key factor for the consolidation of this centrality, due to it occupies the space that gives continuity to Barcelona Street and connects with ‘Plaça de la Porxada’.

The three facades of the building become a single skin that, thank to the continuous use of the stone even in the shutters, unifies the volume and consolidates the characteristic predominance of the massive-wall facades in the old quarter.

Basalt stone has been used due to the fact that because of its porosity and texture constantly changes in colour and reflection according to the different degrees of humidity.

Besides, print inscriptions and ornamental recessed caps remind us of a tattoo that reinforces the perception of skin and gives a personal and human touch to the building.

The changing rhythm of the shutters that appear and disappear, as they are open or closed, project on the façade the interior life of the dwellings.

The entire building captures the passage of time and transmits an alive and organic atmosphere.

The exterior coating of the shutters consists of VIROC panels made up of cement and wood fibres which have similar colour and texture as the basalt stone of the façade though it is a much lighter material and withstands the impacts by opening or closing the shutters.

When the shutter is closed it keeps flush with the external stone coating and visually disappears in the modulation of the ventilated façade. In the inside, the shutters are wood-panelled and, once open, evolve from their anonymous presence towards singularity.

The only exceptions of this dark and massive uniform treatment will be the large windows of the business premises on the ground floor and the great wooden cavity terraces that emphasize inside out the interior layout and give relief and volume to the building.

The dwelling typologies are based on the L shaped continuity between the living and the kitchen so as to create a space that goes through the building and connects both façades by piercing them in an explicit way.

Besides, this strategy allows every dwelling to have a visual connection with the square and the church.

The layout of the upper floor dwelling is reversed so as the living room, the dining and the kitchen could be related to the perimeter terrace from where to enjoy the views over the old part of town.

I title of the work: HOUSING 137
Location: Granollers, Barcelona.
Author: H ARQUITECTES (David Lorente, Josep Ricart, Xavier Ros, Roger Tudó)
Collaborators:Anna Bullich, architect Ramon Anton, architectural technician Jordi Velazquez, structure (MVA, arquitectura y estructura) Otger Sala, geologist (Granollers 2002, estudis geològics, SL) NADICO, engineering ESTRATS, management of cultural heritage, archaeologist
Developer: Promo E.S. March S.L.
Project: 2003-2005
Execution time: 2006-2008
Constructed area: 1.086,05 sq m
Awards: 1st Prize Winner of the ‘5th Valles Architecture Biennial’

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Barcelona-based H Arquitectes have completed School Gym 704 in Barberà del Vallès, Spain.

Commissioned by the city council of Barberà del Vallès, School Gym 704 is a prefabricated, prism shaped building with a sloping roof.

The gym's design includes a porch which provides access to the changing rooms and an outdoor running track for the children's education centre.

The structure of the gym is made of laminated timber board. The exterior covering is made up of transparent, poly-carbon panels that are fixed to galvanized steel battens, fastened to the wooden structure.

School Gym 704 received a special mention within the 'Green Building' category at the Archi-Bau Architecture Awards in Munich this January.

Photographs by Adrià Goula.

Here's more information from H Arquitectes:

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The city council of Barberà del Vallès commissioned us the design of a gymnasium with locker rooms and an outdoor track for the children's education centre called “El Bosc" which is located in an industrial estate. We started from the following assumptions:

First of all, to place the gym separately from the existing school building to avoid any kind of inconvenience in the functioning of the school during construction.
To use prefabricated building systems to reduce the run time.

To use both prefabricated and industrialized light systems in order to reduce the weight of the building, because the soil resistance conditions were very dubious (the school is located on an ancient stream refilled with low resistance materials very badly compacted), to use low envoided energy materials and, finally, to incorporate passive climate systems into the design to reduce energy consumption over the lifetime of the building.

The programme of the building is defined by the Department of Education of the Generalitat de Catalunya in its "gym-multipurpose room" model for primary schools. The building is as narrow and long as possible, within the margins offered by the regulations, in order to fit the gym and the outdoor track inside the esplanade which holds the existing multi-track. Its location avoids any kind of topographical adjustment.

The new volume is contiguous to the main ramp access of the school, so the building does not cast a shadow on the outdoor track. The slope of the roof runs parallel to the ramp so to resolve the roof waterproofing through a basic geometry as a more logical solution working with light-based systems.

The connections among the different parts of the programme are resolved through a porch-faced south.

The search for an industrialized structural system, light and with a low envoided energy material led us to use wood as the basic material of the structure as well as for the interior building enclosure.

The benefits of the laminated timber board LVL Kerto-type, have allowed us to design an structure taking "Balloon-frame" as a model. The same material (Kerto) is used as a light linear element to make up the arcades (1,20mt. separated each one ,and 10 mt. wide) as well as it is used as a panel for the interior enclosure, walls and ceiling, in order to steady the structure from horizontal forces.

Numerical control machines make possible a high degree of accuracy and prefabrication, both portico and interior stabilizing elements.
Kerto laminated timber panel LVL used as interior enclosure assumes three functions: it steadies the structure, ensures fire protection to the arcades and behaves as thermal insulation.

The outer skin is composed by multi-cellular polycarbonate 343-type panels that are fixed on Omega shape galvanized steel battens screwed on the arcades. This transparent skin protects the wood at the same time that allows us to see it.

This solution is virtually used all over the building but the porch area. In the south-faced façade, the waterproof feature of transparent polycarbonate is in addition to its capacity to create a greenhouse effect that enables us to heat the common room in winter due to the overheated air from the ventilated façade.

To plant a deciduous climbing vineyard and, in the other hand, the interior enclosure, will let us control the greenhouse effect during the summer.

The polycarbonate of the north facade works as a skylight that illuminates with constant natural light the different areas of the building.

The requirements of the city council facing the possible acts of vandalism and the necessity to expand a climbing plant on the South and East elevations, have been resolved with the addition of a simple torsion mesh that wraps the polycarbonate enclosure.

The building is perceived by the user in different ways, from the access ramp appears almost like a wall or a silhouette, only at night you come to realize its real condition of building. When you turn the corner and have a wider perspective, then you can notice its actual volume, how to access and the complexity of the successive layers of materials that make it up.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Name of work: SCHOOL GYM 704
Situation: Barberà del Vallès, Catalunya. España.
Author: H ARQUITECTES (David Lorente, Josep Ricart, Xavier Ros, Roger Tudó)
Collaborators: Anna Bullich, architect
Blai Cabrero, student
Iñaki de Mendiguchia, technical architect
Customer: Barberà Del Vallès City Council
Year of realization: 2007-08
Surface constructed: 320m2
Budget: 700.000€

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Barcelona-based H Arquitectes have completed Casa 205, a wooden house in Vacarisses, Spain.

Surrounded by forest, the home is built on a natural rock platform and two concrete struts, and constructed from laminated wood.

"This structural system implies a very important diminishment of the weight, raw material, energy and so the CO2 emissions associated with the foundations and structure of the building," says Xavier Ros of H Arquitectes.

"The dry assembly is easy, quick and helps saving great amounts of water... The laminated wood is a renewable material that can be dismantled and therefore recycled. This means its life cycle is practically closed."

Photographs by Starp Estudi

The following information is from H Arquitectes:

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HOUSE 205

The setting of the project is a plot with steep slopes and a great amount of trees and bushes. The aim is building a house without causing any serious impacts on the land. The house will be built on a natural rocky platform. This platform will also be used as either the exit or the garden of the house.

The architects and the property developers have agreed on minimizing land movements in order to build the artificial landscaped platforms. The target is to make good use of the existing land shelves.

This will allow us to preserve the natural physiognomy of the wood. The only uneven area will be the path ramp, which will cross the piece of land diagonally. This artificial ramp will communicate the street with the different plot levels.

The inner layout of the house is based on a lineal sequence of rooms of different proportions linked to the structure. There are great sliding opened areas, which will provide both harmony and versatility. The house can work as an open-plan space or as individual, closed spaces.

The large layer of rock and two concrete struts will be used as the foundations of the house. The two struts will lay the foundations of the house on the rock. These two struts will also create a space permanently ventilated between the house and the rocky ground.

The house will be built with a structure of laminated wood in large KLH panels, which will be used on walls and ceilings. This system works as a diffuse structure with neither hierarchy nor a Cartesian structure of load bearing walls, but as a whole structure working together. This layout allows us to give the structure a very efficient dimensioning and the creation of big arches. The arches will articulate the geometry of the rock and the house, thus minimizing the foundations of the building.

This structural system implies a very important diminishment of the weight, raw material, energy and so the CO2 emissions associated with the foundations and structure of the building. The dry assembly is easy, quick and helps saving great amounts of water. Altogether eases the building and reduces significantly the cost and time investments. The laminated wood is a renewable material that can be dismantled and therefore recycled. This means its life cycle is practically closed.

The laminated wood panels may rest on sight on walls, ceilings and floors. In order to reduce the costs on coating and interior finishing, we have tried to reduce the facings on sight.

The installations are hidden but they have just been panelled with gypsum wallboard on those rooms, which distribute the system around the house. Finally, half of the rooms have been left with the structure of its facings on sight.

The facades are ventilated and finished with coniferous wood such as Flanders pine. The openings have also been finished with wooden fitters protected with removable shutters. The transpirability of  the facade is guaranteed with a TYBEK panel, which protects the wood. The transpirability of the roof is solved by a draining sheet, which creates a small ventilated room.

The final result is a wooden volume set on a large rock and surrounded by forest, which prevents the ecological visual impact.

Situation: Vacarisses, Catalunya. España.
Author: H ARQUITECTES (David Lorente, Josep Ricart, Xavier Ros, Roger Tudó)
Collaborators:  Toni Jiménez Anglès, interior
Montse Fornés Guàrdia, architect
Artur Gispert, technical architect
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Nevado, architect
Customer: Quico Ortega i Maria Ferriol
Year of realization: 2006-08
Surface constructed: 132 m2
Budget: 200.000€

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