SgLevantina

CLIENT:

Self-development

Status:

Finished work

Location:

Sitges

Year:

2018

Area:

1176,3 m²

M²:

774,34 m²

HEATING DEMAND:

8,94 KWh/m² year

EMISSIONS:

3,38 Kg CO2/m² year

COOLING DEMAND:

6,29 KWh/m² year

Blower door n50:

PASSIVHAUS CERTIFICATION:

ENERGY CERTIFICATION:

Detached Single-family Dwelling in La Levantina

This is a high energy-efficient detached single-family dwelling in Sitges.

The Plot

This is a dwelling in Sitges located in a plot 94m above sea level with exceptional views over the town, from Aiguadolç marina to Can Girona neighbourhood and the views to the sea as its main asset. The plot is 1183m2 and has an irregular shape. The land topography has a variable slope of almost 60% and faces from northeast to southeast, with the lowest point being on the street level and the highest one to the northern threshold.

Conditioning Factors

The steep topography, the views and the functional programme are key factors when taking decisions. This dwelling in Sitges accommodates five different levels winning over territory based on the functional programme requirements and the room’s connection among each other and to outdoors. The clients aim for must-have spaces for their future home: a swimming-pool on the roof deck completely open to the views to Sitges, an indoor and warm swimming-pool, a rear sheltered courtyard and a house inside the house for receiving guests which operates independently. The goal is to create an architecture enabling to meet the clients’ needs.

The Project

Despite the steepness of the plot, the project succeeded in winning over territory for the house for it to gradually rise and relate to the setting in different ways based on the level and the functional programme. The ground floor is connected to the immediate outdoors. It accommodates occasional use rooms, such as the entrance, the parking lot, the installations room, the cellar and the storerooms. The second level is used for the indoor swimming-pool and the guest apartment

The third level holds the main bedrooms with their corresponding bathrooms and walk-in closets. On the fourth level we can find a study and the day zone: a kitchen, a dining room and a large living room. This level’s terrain is tamed so that it can be opened to two different fronts: on the one side, we have direct views to Sitges, while on the other side, we can find the inner courtyard. This courtyard is divided into different heights accessed by platforms enabling the user to visually relate with the different spaces. Both this courtyard and the indoor area lead on to the last level of the house. The fifth floor is where the outdoor swimming-pool is built, as well as all the adjacent spaces benefitting the users’ comfort: a chill-out area, a kitchen with an island, a dining room and a solarium. The constructive logics behind the dwelling obey the functional programme’s needs and it opens to outdoors through a five-tray perimeter.

The Construction

This dwelling’s architecture defines a tray, column and core construction accommodating both the vertical communication and the installations. This system enables to deal with the envelope in a free way without it being connected to large façade structures. This allows for everything connected outdoors to be properly insulated, without thermal bridges in the whole building. Its ventilated façade benefits the airtight envelope and provides thermal comfort. Our priority is to focus on energy efficiency and reduce as much as possible the energy use of a considerably big house.

The Functional Programme

The ground floor, due to its occasional use, is the only one which has not been thermally insulated. However, it works as a thermal filter between outdoors and the indoor access to the first floor. The rest of the house is thermally insulated. The most used levels (the floor with main bedrooms and the day zone floor) have radiant flooring, which is suitable for installing the conditioning system of such floors along the contact surface. The day zone floor opens to opposite sides, allowing for cross ventilation on the most used level. The deck’s infinity pool is located on that level, providing thermal inertia due to its great water body.

Energy Efficiency

The goal for this dwelling in Sitges is to achieve minimum energy use and minimise energy demand. There is a triple insulation for the façades: the outside has a ventilated façade minimising thermal bridges, the inside has an internal air chamber insulation, and finally a Pladur plasterboard coating for the enclosure. The openings are sorted out with high-standard joinery and low-emissivity glass to the north face, and solar control to the south face. The house has an aerothermal system installed in levels two, three and four for providing domestic hot water and powering radiant flooring and air-conditioning equipment. It has a high energy-efficient mechanical ventilation system with a heat recovery and free-cooling unit. There is a solar panel system for heating the indoor swimming-pool water.