Casa Cortijo. Andalus Farmhouse

The building was going to be located in a plain, limited in the skyline by small hills. Big areas of wheat, sunflowers and olive trees follow, shaping an artificial nature in constant movement across the seasons. The program responds to the needs of an “andaluz” farmhouse in which agriculture farm work is going to be developed as well as domestic life. We had three starting points: an unusual program for a house; a huge landscape with an extraordinary strong sunlight, and a rural environment where a technological construction was unthinkable. HOUSE AND LANDSCAPE The building is going to adopt the character of an object in its surrounding. So it was chosen to work with an architecture of mass and emptiness, sculpted and closed. Windows are small ones and we introduce the light and views through the modeling of enclosed exterior spaces. They filter natural light in order to avoid an excess of it. THE PROGRAM These enclosed exterior help to organize the whole program: Dwelling, warehouse and farm are arranged around an access esplanade defined by its chromatic unit with facades. The entranced of the house is done through a closed courtyard. The relation between the patio and the exterior takes place through the space of the living room where a glass volume allows a wide visual connection of the closed patio with the landscape. THE CONSTRUCTION Traditional materials and construction is accepted. Mortars of lime, clay floors, and locksmith workshop shape the construction. The lime without being pigmented is capable of changing along the day from golden tones on the first morning hours until the sandy color of the noon or pink tone before nightfall. LOS ELEMENTOS DEL MEDIO COMO MÉTODO DE PROYECTO EL PAISAJE. Llanura infinita de manchas de trigo, girasol y olivar que se suceden conformando una naturaleza artificial y geométrica, en movimiento constante a lo largo de las estaciones. LA LUZ cegadora. Instrumento de trabajo para generar una arquitectura esculpida y cerrada, consciente de su carácter objetual. Como recurso la investigación con ESPACIOS EXTERIORES ACOTADOS (invernadero, patio, cubo de vidrio) que introducen la luz cruzada, tamizada y las visiones diagonales. Se renuncia a una arquitectura tecnológica y se acepta una CONSTRUCCIÓN tradicional, en la que morteros de cal, pavimentos de barro y cerrajería de taller se ponen al servicio de un lenguaje moderno.