Two vertical props and a horizontal deck: the walls, thick due to structural requirements, with three interlocked layers of clay brick to form the vertical structure, and a rigid concrete deck that supports the heavy green roof. Weight and inertia. The size of the bricks defines the dimensions of the house. Their position helps to interlock the three brick layers, left exposed in order to texture the two walls and to show their structural nature. At certain points these bricks are turned around to expose their perforations and conceal the lights. At other points they are recessed in order to install the electrical mechanisms over them.

Life settles in beneath this big porch. Two closed volumes contain the private uses: bedrooms and bathrooms. Both are shaped by the same type of air brick, laid with the perforations set horizontally and vertical running joints. This bricklaying pattern and position is a statement of their non-load bearing condition. They dress the wall, almost textile-like. Semper, again.

The house is a domestic refuge. A cabin, or rather a cave, where one can take shelter and be protected from the inclement weather and the neighbours’ gaze.

Text provided by the architects.

The life of the house is organized around two courtyards. One is internal, suspended on the first floor, functioning as a gardened bathroom space, exposed to view. This courtyard allows pleasant southern light to enter, which the other façades do not provide, and acts as a thermal chimney, ventilating the interior spaces. The second courtyard, at ground level, becomes a garden around which the main spaces of the house are oriented, thus gaining a visual horizon. To protect from the warm setting sun, a walkable, porous gallery was designed, equipped with long wooden shutters that provide shade to the windows and facilitate vertical ventilation of the façade.

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In the elongated plot (the “llonganissa”), a tiny guest house was designed, utilizing the full width of the structure. The wall facing the courtyard was opened completely to fit a kitchen that doubles as a “chiringuito”, with a liftable window. On the first floor, a double-height space serves as the bedroom, while the south end is arranged as a linear bathroom between the staircase and the corridor. At the opposite end of the plot, a garage-studio completes the northern edge of the courtyard.

The project’s materiality was distilled to three elements: lime mortar—white and smooth for the interiors, earthy and textured for the façades—green unified carpentry, and a custom Palladian-style floor. Developed locally and specifically for the project, the flooring features subtly mismatched, irregularly placed tiles that unify and bring character to both homes.

Text provided by the architects.

Coinciding with the arrival area, a reception space is proposed that completes the semicircle and constructs its outline through a wooden bench. From this point, the user connects with a kind of large hallway, which acts as a backbone and provides access to each of the rooms. This entire strip is covered with wooden paneling that gives presence and seems to emphasize, to a greater extent, access to each of the programs.

The warmth of the wood on the vertical surfaces and the colorful linoleum red on certain floors contrast with the neutrality of the rest of the tones. White covers the majority of walls and ceilings and gives prominence to the unique vaulted roof.

Text provided by the architects.

Strategies

Roof Architecture. The wooden structure as shelter
 The new building extends the existing edge of the Bohinjska Bistrica settlement, taking into account the geometric characteristics of the surrounding context and emphasizing the horizontality through the implementation of expansive, sloped roofs. By fragmenting the program into three distinct volumes, a central open inner courtyard is established as the main entrance, simultaneously defining and delineating the outer spaces.

Cultural Landscape and Sense of Place. Farmhouse organization
The architecture of the kindergarten gradually descends towards the natural environment, reaching its closest proximity to nature at the eastern end of one of the volumes, which fully opens up to the landscape. This interplay between the three volumes establishes a harmonious dialogue between the scale of the encompassing mountains and the children’s need for a secure and nurturing environment.

The Gank: From tradition to a continuous playground
The core organizational element of the interior space is the interpretation of the traditional element “gank,” (porch), an interconnected loop of internal and external pathways that connects various areas of the kindergarten. This versatile circulation system not only links the nursery spaces together but also allows for flexible use and movement throughout the entire facility.

Transparency: Openness toward each other and the surroundings
Layering of views occurs at various levels within the building. Transparency is present both in the arrangement of interior spaces and in the opening of views towards the south and north directions. As a result, the building is bright and users, including children, educators and kitchen staff, are more aware of each other’s presence.

Functionality and Community: Purpose beyond a kindergarten
Each of the three buildings within the complex serves a distinct purpose. The first two buildings primarily accommodate service areas and classrooms, while the third building is conceived as a multipurpose space for the wider community. This multifaceted structure aims to provide a gathering place for the village, facilitating various activities, cultural events, and social engagements. By serving as a focal point for the local community, this essential building establishes a vital connection between the entire project and the surrounding village, fostering a new collective space for the area’s residents.

Text provided by the architects.

Eulalia Gil was a warehouse of disparate objects. Remains of unclaimed family properties, discarded furniture, books in poor condition and many other objects. A space determined more by its content than by its function as a container. Unconsciously it was this condition that guided the renovation project: a space shaped this time by the collection of objects of its new inhabitant. Large format photographs, work tools, rescued and restored furniture, a kitchen from a recently closed restaurant, a bench from an abandoned church and plants of different types and sizes, among the many objects that make up his collection, generate different compositions, causing the space to operate as a large background.
In line with this idea, the interventions that do not directly affect the walls and deck are treated as objects that add to this collection. Specifically a staircase and a gate are developed to connect and isolate a small space of intimacy for the inhabitant. These elements contrast with the rest of the building due to their color, materiality and shape. 
Eulalia focuses on the content rather than the container, centering the experience on the different relationships that these objects establish with each other.

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The proposal recovers the volume of the original cover, gable, based on traces marking the slabs that solved the game of it with the front wall. You do not get to reconstruct the entire volume, thus emphasizing the character of the park open unfinished piece. For floor heights are taken as valid marking the original access and support traces the floor structure. It recovers, in part, the original topography on the north side to facilitate, now, accessibility and livability of the building. The walled hollow this facade are occupied, the new project, wooden boxes projecting outwards. To these it can be accessed from a platform that is installed as a lookout in the park. This arrangement allows a permeability which establishes a direct relationship between the building and the outside suggests various possibilities of use.

Text provided by the architect.

NATURAL MATERIALS
The project has achieved a 30% reduction in the contribution to global warming with the selection of materials and construction systems. This represents a reduction of 21,683 kg CO2e, going from 72,442 kgCO2e to 50,717 kgCO2e. This reduction is equivalent to driving a small, efficient gasoline vehicle for a distance equivalent to three times the circumference of the earth.
Sandstone walls and partitions represent a 50% reduction in contribution to global warming compared to the conventional concrete block and laminated plaster solution. These elements account for 10% of the emissions of the entire building.
On the other hand, other relevant environmental factors also decrease considerably. Thus, the acidification potential is reduced by 15%, going from 265 kg SO2e to 229 kg SO2e, and the eutrophication potential is reduced by 90%, going from 440 kg PO4e to 53kg PO4e.

CLIMATE STRATEGIES
The building is oriented southeast, halfway between the best orientation facing solar radiation (south) and the best orientation facing the prevailing winds (east/northeast). A pergola with deciduous vegetation, located in front of the living-dining room, allows solar radiation to enter the building in winter, avoiding it during the hottest months of the year. The rooms and bathrooms, for their part, are protected from radiation in summer by a porch. In the patio of the house there is a tree that acts as a filter to limit the excessive entry of radiation through the large windows. Windows located at the top of the opposite façade, above the kitchen, facilitate cross ventilation to eliminate hot air accumulated at the top of the building.

Text provided by the architect.

SYSTEMS
We understand construction as a series of interconnected systems with different degrees of industrialization. Working with CLT, for us, is a deep dive into industrial wood systems with their own rules and characteristics that we must fully understand.
While building regulations only allow for a shallow building depth, wall thickness is minimized to maximize interior build area. CLT allows us to develop thin, single-layer walls, where the wood would be exposed on the inside. The facades are clad with natural cork panels, on the east façade, while timber is used to the street.

RESOURCES
Efforts have been made with resources, maximizing the use of bio-based materials such as wood and natural cork to create constructive solutions that minimize the consumption of incorporated and operational energy. For the construction of the Split house, 58m3 of wood were used, achieving a storage of 52Tn of CO2. Special attention has been paid to the execution of the air-tight envelope in order to reduce operational energy to a minimum.

SPACE-COLOR
Most of the spaces are defined by an atmospheric “vainilla ice-cream” colour paint which covers the exposed timber while enhancing its texture. Other parts are complemented by the use of saturated color to emphasize certain corners and areas of the rooms. Colours are used as an extravagant filigree and are the result of a subjective preference chosen together with the client.

Text provided by the architect.