Shelter for a photographer "las cuadras"

SHELTER FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER "LAS CUADRAS"

Estudio Ji Architects

Shelter for a photographer \

ARES
0 sqft - 1000 sqft

STATUS
Built

BUDGET
$10K - 50K

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
Benidorm, Spain

CATEGORY
Residential › Private House

Shelter for a photographer \

REHABILITATION OLD HORSES STABLES

"... Your place to take care of them ..."
Rehabilitation of old horse stables to turn them into a temporary retreat for a photographer and his big animals.

We are looking for a place without a concrete definition.

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

JUST ONE SPACE

where they can look at their animals in the field, work on their photographs and make rice. This place, loaded with symbolism and history, should be a place to remember that should never be lost.

"We were looking for a space that spoke of what it was and not what it is"

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

The elements we worked with were “the steps”, “the tracks”. Footprints marked that do not disappear. In this case we physically had these traces used
and worn: “Explorer's” horseshoes.

The essential concept of the rehabilitation is a piece protected by a "synthetic tree" that protects, provides shade and recreates a small forest.

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

To begin, we empty the longitudinal nave of approximately 11 x 4 meters.

We maintain its concrete block walls and roof. Towards the outside we cleared nearby buildings to look for the hidden mountain (Serra Gelada).

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

When we had the volume empty, we opened a large hole at one end that faces the field of the animals and between the room and the field:a yellow patio with holes that frame the animals.

THE FACADE IS VARIANT ACCORDING TO ORIENTATION AND USES

. South and West: Where the kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom are located, the existing wall with a rhythm of horseshoe-shaped holes through which light passes and they turn these entrances into a lattice that speaks directly of the building's past.

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

"... the footprints rise and become light ..."
. East: Yellow English patio and gaps that look out over the countryside.

. North: Circular ventilation holes and they will act as backlit lamps.

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

For the interior, we were looking for a variable and open space, but that contained the essentials to live: 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 1 bed, 1 table, 1 sofa

A single piece "mechanism" in pine wood that runs along its perimeter and it is transformed as the different uses arise.

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

It is the only space in which the wooden elements themselves divide it by uses.

IN LESS THAN 40 M2 WE ACHIEVE

1 kitchen, 1 dining table, a movable sofa, a bathroom, a desk with a bench, a double bed next to the horse field and a gallery to display your photographs.

Originally, the stables had a small roof anchored to the main facade.

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

We reuse it by raising it above the main nave, supporting it by a “forest of fine pillars ”colored and apparently without a logical order.

The idea was to recreate a polycarbonate “synthetic tree” that grows and deforms reacting according to the steps to be protected and culminating in a great dilation which becomes the new shelter for animals.

Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \

The result is a light piece, which lets the filtered light pass through the 2 layers of polycarbonate, that provides shade and that ensures that the air recirculates and refreshes the entrance porch.


Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \
Shelter for a photographer \