A palace, a house, a garden
From the fortification to the landscape
The town of Corçà is a compact walled village, where the main street follows a tangential path to its core, embed- ding a series of extramural constructions that open directly to the landscape. The project intervenes in one of these constructions and confronts two realities: the traditional historical nucleus and the agricultural landscape of Baix Empordà.
Recovering an original construction
It is a noble house between party walls, a small palace with an imposing facade on Carrer Major in Corçà. A centuries-old building, consisting of a main construction with a ground floor, main floor, and attic, to which succes- sive extensions towards the garden were added over the centuries. This sedimentation results in a dark and intricate space. The uses are hierarchized following the traditional scheme of allocating the ground floor to livestock and secondary uses, the main floor to the residence, and the attic to garret. As a result of this situation, the relation with the garden is practically disconnected from the house. The ground floor is semi-buried and the entrance to the garden is solved through stairs from the first floor.
Considering the precarious state of historical extensions, the selective demolition of this constructions is carried out, preserving the original building. By constructing a new volume, the connection with the rear part of the plot is reco- vered, articulating a set formed by three episodes: the palace, the house, and the garden.
The Palace. To perforate and to preserve
It is a traditional, stone-built construction. A structure consisting of a large main space and two narrower spans, where the rooms are defined by the structure itself. Due to the building’s typology, the interior heights are quite low, except for some singular spaces, and the windows are of reduced dimensions. Though the strategic demolition of certain floors a vertical void illuminates the core of the house. A set of connected double-heigh spaces transform an excessively compartmentalized palace into a large vertical agora.
Existing constructive elements, such as masonry door lintels, stone window seats, a stone pillar supporting the roof structure, among others, are enhanced. Although the distribution is modified, the original openings are preserved, both for internal communications and to address the connection with the new construction, directing the gaze towards the garden.
The House. A rational construction
The functional program is completed through the construction of a new prismatic element that is inserted between the existing irregular walls. It is not an independent volume, as it is designed as another piece of the main construction. The heights and levels adapt to the existing structure, and both materially and formally the project does not seek to stand out above the palace, being constructed with a unidirectional structure of wooden beams and ceramic vaults. Spaces are unified by plastering the walls and painting the ceiling structures, that are left exposed. This enhances natural lighting and noble materials such as stone and wood. A stone floor, following the orthogonal direction of the new volume, extends all along the house, while new doors fold within the existing thickness of the original walls. This new construction addresses the rear facade of the dwelling, understood from a logic of vertical openings alig- ned with existing ones. Through the house, the palace is visually connected to the garden.
The Garden. Transition of terraces
Considering the original disconnection between the house and the garden due to a difference in levels, a new transition is proposed through a series of terraces, increasingly less built and more porous.
Life is projected towards the outside through the construction of simple elements, such as a pergola, a bench, and a planter. Existing elements such as the well and sheds are preserved and integrated into this terrace system, construc- ted with traditional materials such as ceramic tiles and plaster. This minimal intervention relies on the strength of the existing vegetal heritage, where time will eventually merge the house within its surroundings.
The construction of a joint
The project relies on a set of specific actions that recognize the physical and temporal context in which they are located. Constructive historical elements are highlighted, and the house articulates the connection between two realities, from Carrer Major to the garden, from the wall to the landscape.
