House X in Barcelona. Perfect integration between architecture and nature

The unique shape stems from the need of the designers of Caraval & Solà-Morales studio to integrate a contemporary architecture, with the natural surroundings, including the view of the sea, the mountain and a pine tree of considerable size. The shape is therefore not a priori, if not the effort to give a unified response to all the elements involved that have conditioned it

X House is a constructive exploration, small-scale application of a technique used in engineering construction. The use of a mixed technique, based on the use of high-density concrete, has made it possible to project continuous walls that are 6 m high. The house is therefore an expression of this technique as well as an evolution of the use of the system

The house is located at the top of a slope of the Cabrils valley. This made the access to the house at the top more depressed by two meters above street level, accentuating with its completely blind walls the desire to fit into the ground and disappear from the street. The access to the garage is therefore from the upper part of the house while the lower floor differs in a front part of an open character to the public and a more private at the back

House X's project is about form, defining spaces of very different nature, giving each one a unique character and always taking care of the landscape as the main protagonist. Beyond the spatial play at the front of the house, the points of view are the protagonists. So the reflection of the sea is always present in the vision of the mountain and the mountain is seen when you look at the sea

The preliminary analysis is based on a list of questions that the designers asked themselves earlier, such as how to protect and highlight a pine tree of impressive dimensions, how to preserve the views of the sea and the mountains, how to neutralize the presence of adjacent houses, how to duplicate the main views, enabling quality views in the foreground but also in the rooms at the back of the house. A challenge to respect that which already existed

A perfect integration of architecture and nature, this architecture is also a way of showing how a project must first respond to real problems and making them an integral part of the project