The objectives set by the renovation are the climatic improvement of the house, seeking comfort throughout the year, and turning the house around to link the kitchen-living-dining space to the south façade, opening it to the views and outdoor spaces that are also suitable and connected to the house. At the programmatic level, the autonomous main floor is proposed, equipped with the minimum housing program with the possibility of growing and decreasing according to needs. The attic floor includes a bedroom with a new bathroom and a multipurpose space resulting from the volume expansion made to open to the south. The bedrooms, bathrooms and storage and circulation spaces are placed as a climate cushion on the north façade. A new skylight cuts out the vaults of the slab to bring natural lighting and solar capture back to the central space of the house: the Ca la Carolina dining table.

The environmental and climate strategies that guide the intervention are,
At the energy level, passive and active strategies,
– Making the most of the inertia of the existing solid and solid stone and ceramic construction, is explained by leaving the stone and ceramics exposed. Despite the different textures and materials, it has been unified with a traditional white whitewash that gives luminosity.
– Increase solar capture with the new openings to the south, keeping the openings reduced on the north and east façade, where the carpentry is improved.
– Guarantees cross ventilation in all rooms.
– Include sun protection for the summer, with Alicante blinds, shutters and a plant pergola.
– Increase the insulation throughout the envelope from a wood fibre insulation.
– Provide the house with a pellet stove for the coldest winter days.

Text provided by the architect.

The eight dwellings, four one-bedroom and four two-bedroom, ’embrace’ the courtyards in pairs so that each has two facades facing the courtyard. This layout defines a way of inhabiting that intimately ties the interior spaces to the exterior and semi-exterior ones. In addition, this implies a long interior development of the dwellings with the emergence of transition spaces always open to the courtyards, whose generous dimensions enable them as multipurpose spaces beyond their mere transitional role.

The project fulfills many sustainability and energy efficiency indicators, significantly improving on the values set by current regulations.

Firstly, by limiting to 438.91 kgCO2/m2 the CO2 emissions generated by the materials and techniques used for the building construction, a reduction of approximately 30% over the ones generated with conventional methods. This remarkable improvement was made possible by using ceramics manufactured in kilns with biomass; wood for the beams, the structure of the atriums, and carpentry; recycled cotton for the facade insulation; and dried posidonia for the roof insulation, rescuing an ancestral tradition of local architecture in doing so.

Secondly, by implementing passive design strategies that reduce non-renewable primary energy consumption to 10.7 KW/m2/year. These strategies include: the definition of an envelope of high thermal inertia with thermo-clay walls filled with earth from the excavation; the cross ventilation of all the rooms; the thermal regulation of the interior of the houses through the covering of the patios with a system of glazed enclosures and practicable solar protections that turn them into bioclimatic atriums, that is, into heat accumulators in winter and ventilated shaded areas in summer. In addition, these architectural strategies make it possible to achieve comfortable conditions of humidity and temperature inside the dwellings without installing a centralized heating system, which means significant savings in energy bills for the families living in the building.

Finally, it is crucial to highlight the extensive use of greenery in the courtyards, urbanization, roofs and planters to mitigate the heat island effect and create more pleasant living conditions. Furthermore, carefully selected plant species with low water requirements and reusing rainwater collected from the roof (stored in an underground cistern in front of the building) for irrigation guarantees vegetation sustainability in Ibiza’s arid climate.

Text provided by the architect.

Our efforts for this project were concentrated on giving the new spaces a domestic feel in the face of its monumentality. The new inner spaces generated by our selective vacuums are where we placed the spaces with a more “public” appeal. These spaces are visual connectors even though they are set at different levels. In them, everyday activities are carried out whereas the rooms of a more private nature are located around these rooms.

The building was developed on three levels, on the ground floor we have the “Roman Fauces” entrance, in tribute to the large entrance halls of the farmhouses and the traditional houses in the town. Day activities are concentrated on the first floor, with the living room, kitchen and dining room linked to the inner terrace and bathroom and the accompanying room. The second floor is dedicated to the night area where the rooms and the corresponding bathrooms are concentrated.

The material essence of housing was achieved by fundamentally stripping and removing all ornaments and finishes prior to remodeling and returning the building to its original appearance. Our aim was to

recover the essence of this type of houses, where the material, the texture and the color are given additional value and incorporated within the new interior language. The rammed earth walls take on a prominent technical role in this new language since these walls allow us to regulate the natural moisture, temperature and acoustics of the interior of the house.

Text provided by the architect.