Villa ZüV by Tomás Amat Estudio de Arquitectura: minimalist and contemporary balance in Alicante

News Infurma26/10/2017
Imagen

Villa ZüV, situated in Elche, Alicante, is this single family detached house with minimalist demeanour and a sculptural soul that has been designed and planned by Tomás Amat Estudio de Arquitectura, Pablo Belda + Tomás Amat. The studio has resolved a complex and highly demanding needs program, both in terms of privacy as well as quality, for a couple with two kids that had from inception a very clear idea of what their new home should take into accountand convey: simplicity, elegance and functionality.

Villa ZüV, in Elche, with a built área of 590m2 and a minimalistic and contemporary aesthetics. Photos David Frutos. All rights reserved

Located in a consolidated residential neighbourhood of the city and surrounded by other houses in three sides with dividing walls, this villa is framed in a 1.000 m2 plot with a total built area of 590 m2. This is the starting point of a project that, as the architects say, “it has been defining its own footprint within the plot following the area's regulatory constraints and the aspect of the building main façade”. Two factors, they say, “that have also had an influence when defining and articulating the house in three longitudinal volumes that confer a fragmented image, each one accommodating a different part of the needs program”.

It's because of this that Villa ZüV is distributed into two floors above ground level and a basement. Immediately after entering the house, at street level, the kitchen, living-dining room, studio, guest room and toiletare located. The first two are widely opened towards the garden and are connected to it through a minimum profile and retractable aluminium carpentry that allows total outdoors-indoors connection. Its boundaries dilute without sacrificing privacy. Sliding horizontal aluminium systems protect the villa's inner life from prying eyes and attenuate the light of the setting sun. The panoramic views of the pool and garden areas are secured, and so is the privacy of Villa ZüV's inhabitants.

The indoors-outdoors boundaries of the villa are totally diluted thanks to the carpentry work. Photos David Frutos. All rights reserved

An impressive staircase of great dimensions stands out guiding the transit towards the first floor and the basement; the architects’ intention was to give it a certain level of prominence. Its sight is almost sculptural and it has been designed, not only from a formal and structural point of view, but also to be enjoyed while passing by it. This central element of the house (the central core of it) offers a light and airy aesthetics even though it has been built with a concrete base. It is flanked by glass sheets and a protective structure of wooden boards and its design balances and shines with harmony by beautifully showcasing the contrast between the different aesthetic qualities of these noble, cold and warm materials.

The concrete and wood staircase being the central axe of the house articulates spaces and levels. Photos David Frutos. All rights reserved

The natural sunlight penetrates the wooden boards panelling and sheds a more nuanced light towards the upper and lower level halls. The irregular layout of these wooden boards, that also resembles a sense of rhythm and movement, shines light beams and a scheme of a thousand shades over the floor.

The upper floor of the house brings together a living room and a TV area, and also three large bedrooms. Each one of the bedrooms, with en-suite bathroom and private balcony, faces a different façade. All the rooms are connected and brought together by a distribution hall.

Three en-suite bedrooms, a living room and a TV area are the rooms on the first floor. Photos David Frutos. All rights reserved

The basement level harbours the garage and the utility rooms saving, that way, useful floor area for the garden. This main external area has been planned around the rectangular pool, and the kitchen and sitting room also look towards this space. In the same way, there is a double-height large porch with a micro-concrete finishing that can be accessed from the sitting room and, as it functions like a terrace, it can foster the fractioned image of the villa. On the far end there is another area designated and prepared as a barbecue and other gastronomic events to be enjoyed with family and guest.

Green indigenous trees deserve special mentioned, especially the palm trees on the garden areas of Villa ZüV, as well as other imported plants that add an exotic and exuberant aspect to the outsideof the house.

Noble materials and minimalistdecor

In the planning and development of Villa ZüV, as well as in any residential project of this dimension, a commitment to use quality and high end materials in the interior design makes the difference. In this case, being specifically requested by the owners, it was a priority. They wanted high end, long lasting and timeless coatings and materials for a minimalist and contemporary design that would, at the same time, infuse the house with harmonious and cosy aesthetics.

To achieve that, the Tomás Amat and Pablo Belda studio has predominantly opted for the use of concrete, micro-cement and natural wood for the interior of Villa ZüV. In the damp areas (kitchen and bathrooms) Techno-cement in grey 2 hue pavements have been installed. The bathrooms have been finished with Techno-cement vertical walls in different colours conferring the rooms a bigger sense of depth. In the kitchen,the use of rustic noble wood panelling for storage units, and the oven and wine storage units, stand out as well as the marble worktops on the kitchen isle.

The damp áreas of the villa have been coated with micro-cement. The wooden kitchen furniture provides a warm touch. Photos David Frutos. All rights reserved

In the daily common rooms and transit areas (sitting room, dining room, recreational lounge area, corridors and distribution halls), as well as in private and night areas (bedrooms) natural aged oak wood flooring has been used. The main vertical walls in the master bedroom and double-height main living room, have been coated with black Techno-cement thus creating focal points of interest and filling these ample spaces with a unified connected language.

Hanged and embedded sliding doors created specifically for this house in natural oak wood and white lacquered wood are another element to add to the general decor that, in interior design terms, is marked by the sobriety and simplicity of the furniture. The chosen pieces of furniture are in sync and balance with the rooms that embrace them. Sofas, armchairs, tables, chairs, beds... each element with straight and clean lines in a neutral chromatic range (grey and earth shades scales) to bestow a hardly more tuned up final result.

Minimalist and simple interior design perfectly couple the house architectonic design. Photos David Frutos. All rights reserved

TECHNICAL SHEET

Project: Villa ZüV
Architects: Tomás Amat Estudio de Arquitectura, Pablo Belda + Tomás Amat
Construction Company: Sector Obra S.L.

Location: Elche, Alicante.
Plot area: 1.000m2
Area built: 590m2
Finish date: 2017

Three floors + swimming pool and garden areas
Ground level floor: kitchen, living room and garden
First floor: 3 en-suite bedrooms and sitting room
Basement: garage andutility rooms

Main materials: concrete, micro-concrete, aluminium and wood

Source: Tomás Amat Estudio de Arquitectura

Visit the Tomás Amat Estudio de Arquitectura website

News Infurma:

Online Magazine of the International Habitat Portal. Design, Contract, Interior Design, Furniture, Lighting and Decoration