Architect:
Pablo Serrano Elorduy
Interior Designer:
Blanca Elorduy
Collaborating Architect:
–
Construction Manager:
Alejandro Valiente
Surface Area:
312 sq m
Project Year:
2024-2025
Photography and Video:
Dom Arquitectura
Located on the seafront, overlooking a secluded cove in La Ametlla de Mar, this project is inspired by the essence of the Mediterranean. It captures the sea breeze and the gentle sound of the waves, embracing the unique character and tranquility of this privileged setting.
The house opens towards the east, maximizing sea views through expansive openings that flood the interiors with natural light. On the south side, where privacy is essential, a composition of courtyards, walls, porches, and louvres carefully balances sunlight, views, and intimacy while responding sensitively to the surrounding neighborhood.
The façade combines a dry-stone plinth at ground level with a continuous lime-render finish on the upper floor, where lime-based mortars add texture and visual depth. Earth-toned materials blend seamlessly with the coastal landscape, while timber louvres and pergolas filter natural light and enhance privacy, preserving a strong connection with the surrounding environment.
The outdoor design encourages a balanced experience of sun and shade through carefully planned spaces, from timber pergolas to dry-stone walls that define the outdoor living areas. The landscape features crushed stone and native Mediterranean planting, creating a setting that reflects the character of the region and integrates seamlessly with the architecture.
Access to the garage and the studio rooms in the basement is provided from the north side, ensuring a discreet arrival. On the ground floor, the bedrooms and the open-plan living, dining, and kitchen area extend towards the swimming pool and panoramic sea views through large sliding glass doors, creating a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces. The first floor is dedicated to the principal suite, which opens onto a private terrace through a lounge area and includes a walk-in wardrobe and en-suite bathroom, offering comfort, privacy, and spectacular views.
MAXIMIZING CANTILEVERS AND FAÇADE PROTECTION
Despite the site’s restrictive building footprint, the design maximizes the cantilevered overhangs, even where they remain open, to provide effective façade protection while emphasizing the building’s strong horizontal expression. A lightweight steel roof structure makes these generous cantilevers possible, allowing for expansive roof planes with minimal supporting elements below.
“The architecture blends seamlessly into the landscape through a balanced composition of stone, timber, native planting, and open spaces that embrace the surrounding scenery.”
LIGHT BENEATH THE MEDITERRANEAN SUN
Natural light transforms the basement of this Mediterranean seafront home. A series of generous openings connect the interior to landscaped courtyards, bringing vegetation, fresh air, and shifting sunlight into what would otherwise be an underground level.
Stone, concrete, and a palette of neutral tones create a serene, cool atmosphere, reinforcing the home’s close connection to the Mediterranean landscape.
BETWEEN STONE, TIMBER, AND SHADE
The house engages with the Mediterranean landscape through a carefully considered combination of natural materials, vegetation, and light. Local stone brings texture, solidity, and a sense of continuity with its surroundings, while timber introduces warmth and a more intimate, domestic character.
The expansive louvred porch acts as a climatic filter, providing shade from the intense Mediterranean sun while allowing natural light and ventilation to flow through the outdoor living spaces. Its structure casts an ever-changing pattern of light and shadow across the paving and walls, allowing the outdoor spaces to evolve throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky.
Olive trees and native Mediterranean planting reinforce the home’s connection to its setting, bringing shade, freshness, and a strong sense of place to the composition. The clean, horizontal bands in a sand-toned finish contrast with the natural irregularity of the stone, creating a balanced and harmonious composition.
“The Mediterranean becomes the true protagonist of an architecture conceived to embrace the horizon.”
ARCHITECTURE ROOTED IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
The house combines the boldness of its contemporary volumes with the warmth of stone and timber, creating a serene architectural expression that is deeply rooted in its surroundings.
Mediterranean planting softens the architecture and accompanies the journey from the entrance to the outdoor living areas, where the swimming pool, dry-stone walls, and the sea horizon come together as a single composition. Every element is designed to extend the experience of the house into the landscape, establishing a continuous dialogue between materiality, light, and nature.
RELATED PROJECTS
TARRAGONA HOUSE
URB. SOLIMAR
EMPORDÀ HOUSE
COSTA BRAVA
MEDITERRANEAN house
MEDITERRANEAN