AIGUADOLÇ RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX. SITGES

The plan involves two linear blocks aligned along the Aiguadolç and La Devesa streets, respectively. The former run in a straight line parallel to the alignment of the street, and curve slightly when it approaches Fondo de les Oliveres street, seeking a connection with the layout of the buildings of the former Aiguadolç hotel. The latter has a curved layout, running parallel to the alignment of La Devesa street. The relative displacement of the buildings frees up spaces at the north-western and south-eastern corners of the site, which are allocated to a swimming pool and a children’s play area, respectively.

 

General access to the complex is from Josep Roca Pons square, through the gateway that contains a concierge building and bicycle parking. The central space between the buildings is planned as a landscaped pedestrian walkway with the entrances to the stairs of both buildings.

 

The buildings are organised around staircases and lifts that provide access to two dual-aspect homes in each landing. Only one home per staircase is planned on the third floor, to which the planning assigns occupancy levels equivalent to fifty percent of the standard floor, adding the day area and the night area of two adjacent standard homes. This creates a ‘checkerboard’ occupancy on the top floor of each staircase that frees up two independent terraces – one for private use and the other for communal use.

 

According to the planned homes, the living areas (the living room and eat-in kitchen connected to the balconies) face south, with sea views, or north, with mountain views. The bedrooms overlook the interior space between the buildings. As an exception, the homes at the east end of the complex are laid out with the day area facing south and overlooking the children’s play area, and with the balconies facing east in order to denote the façade of the development as a whole in the square.

 

While the day areas are planned as identical in all homes, the six bedrooms in two adjacent homes are occasionally redistributed into groups of four and two so that the plan complies with the diversity of home types that was requested.

 

The exterior façades are characterised by broad balconies, which create extensive shadows on the enclosure level. This feature provides them with volume and relief, while providing effective protection from the sun in the southward aspect. Occasionally, to coincide with the columns of the kitchen dining areas, the horizontal lines created by the spans of the terraces are interrupted at different heights to create episodes with variable scales, thereby breaking up the pattern of the shadows projected.

 

The projection of the interior façades is tense, based on a regular grid of solid and empty spaces. The crenellated effect created by the penthouses helps to enliven the profile of these façades, while simultaneously raising the perimeter boundaries of the free space between buildings to a relative height of the ground floor and two storeys. As they approach the community area, where the swimming pool is located, the designs of the interior façades have a system of self-referential folds that contribute to the plasticity of the enclosed areas and to creating the interstitial space they define.

Project: Adolf Martínez / Josep Lluís Sisternas, architects MSA+A

Collaborators: Cristóbal Arrabal, Katia Chikaher, architects MSA+A

Execution director: Miquel Rosales, SBS

Structure: Juan Pablo Rodríguez / Ignacio Vallet, architects MSA+A

Installations: Juli Carbonell, engineer. Yolanda Boto, architect MSA+A

Breeam Certification: Jordi Castellano, GBM. Yolanda Boto, architect MSA+A

Developer: Neinor Homes

General contractor: Beta Conkret SA

Project manager: Pere Salelles, Mace Management Services SA

Built area: 7.025 m²

Chronology: Design, 2016-2017; Construction, 2018-2019