Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

House in Benalmadena

This is a project by Luis Machuca y Asociados and it is located at Benalmadena, Malaga, Spain. Project's program: Single family house. There are fourteen images for House in Benalmadena.

: © Luis Machuca y Asociados

Project details

Project name: House in Benalmadena
Location: Benalmadena, Malaga, Spain
Program: Single family house
Area: Built-up Area: 443 m2
Year: Completion: 2003
Client: Gregorio Quesada
Project by: Luis Machuca y Asociados
Team: Principal Designer: Luis Machuca Santa-Cruz • Design Team: María Machuca Casares, Luis Machuca Casares
Others: Contractor: Construcciones Francisco Serrano Balbuena • Quality surveyor: José Manuel Caro López

Project images

Designer's statement

On the road from Benalmadena village to the coast, with stunning views on the Malaga seaside, lies the home of Gregorio Quesada.

The plot is on a steep hillside which is an area of terraced gardens. Here there was an old house that the owner decided to reform and extend to be his new home.

Because of the geographic conditions sustainability in this case is not an empty phrase: the design process took it into account not only by integrating the building in the landscape but taking advantage of the nature’s benefits when it came to create the comfort conditiones of the house. The house is set in a linear orden with the contours, which reduced the cost of the construction significantly and also had the result that one does not loses the magnificent view from any point of the building.

We enter the house through a portico on the upper level that can be used as a restimg area on summer days. Once we are inside there is a lobby of double height with the stairs that communicate with the living room and bedrooms.

In the old building a toilet and kitchen-dining room were located in the lower level, which is accessed through the landing of the staircase, so we can enjoy from the dining room the magnificent views offered by the large living room window. This configuration allows cross ventilation in summer that improve the comfort conditions of the house without artificial energy inputs.

Both the lounge and the bedrooms are protected by wooden blinds that create a cushion of air between the outer and the inner temperature to improve thermal conditions. The bedrooms and the other rooms of more privacy by being half-buried in the lower level of the house get optimal temperature condition in the toughest seasons, both winter and summer, which is something hard to be beaten by electro-mechanic-systems.

The mechanism to control the sun exposure is resolved by the blinds of adjustable slats of wood, at a distance of one meter from the sliding windows that close each of the rooms, giving them a great security. Another feature of these blinds is its versatility, turning the house into an open or closed space according to its inhabitant’s wish.