Sant Mori Ampliación & Pérgola

by MESURA

Located in a rural village surrounded by the Mediterranean landscapes of fields and forests stands the Santi Morio project by MESURA.

The clients of this project, a Spanish family with young children, had decided to spend as much time as possible in their summerhouse and hired MESURA Architects to revive their old pool area and later create an extension to the house.

The home was formerly designed to fit their large three generation family for a only few hot months of summer, as it was too impractical for the couple to live the year around in. MESURA’s proposal was to create a new heart in the building by giving the ground floor level access to the garden and restore an old and forgotten kitchen.  The kitchen had a beautiful Catalan vault in which MESURA saw the opportunity to take down the exterior wall and expose it to a new, extended living and dining area. The architects wanted to maintain the typical structure of the house so that the extension doesn’t compete but rather improves its original identity.

The large floor to ceiling windows and sliding doors faces a shadowed terrace, a favourite spot for the owners in the hottest of the summer afternoons. The connection between the interior and the exterior was an important feature for the architects to strengthen the building’s relationship with its environment.

For the pool area MESURA designed a pergola to give the property an exterior room and a gathering place for the whole family. It consists of a canopy and a storeroom which share a common roof; a single supportive element that rests on a concrete wall.  The light belts of the canopy project a sequence of shadows, changing during the hours of the day. The sundeck and the storeroom were given wooden cladding to give warmth to the space.

MESURA’s Sant Mori project is an example of how, from a small intervention, it is possible to generate an enormous impact on the interactivity between design and enjoyment. An effort to reduce what is strictly functional and structural to achieve the highest quality of the space. The smart use of all available materials as well as the way in which they are carefully selected, leads to a transforming and at the same time calm and restrained intervention.

From the Architect – Ampliación

The aim was to recuperate the views hidden by the small enlargement project and the old swimming pool area, utilising the stepped zone in the land slope. MESURA had the opportunity to revitalise the noblest part of the space, and to give this place a different way of living with new exterior and interior boundaries and comfort parameters for this new period.

The home had been designed to be used and enjoyed by a singular family during summer months and holidays. Although up until now it was too big and impractical to live in during the whole year.

Mesua’s proposal was to adjust the floor so that it had access to the garden and while restoring an old and forgotten kitchen (as there was a larger kitchen integrated in the noble floor), with the intention to transform the space into the new heart of the building.

The overall concept became new space – same identity.

The Project planned a total rehabilitation of the kitchen, including an opening to the contiguous terrace and an additional covered open area which was  to be used as a daily dining room and small living room.

The existing special qualities of the building, with its enormous personality, have been maintained and strengthened. It could be said that the new reform does not compete, but improves upon its original identity.

From a structural and economic  viewpoint, combined with the environmental and visual impact (it is a protected house according to POUM in 2009, documented by architect Amador Ferrer), this small intervention was an excellent solution as it didn’t incur additional volume but only redrew and completed its own irregular and fractured facade.

Blasco-Nicolau Project is an effort to minimise the strictly functional and structural aspects, with the objective to maximise spatial quality. The use of indoor areas with generous dimensions and an opening to the landscape has let us improve its relationship with the environment while also creating the experience of a different relationship with Sant Mori’s natural surroundings.

From the Architect – Pérgola

A couple with a traditional house in the Empordà share one dream.

Houses should evolve along with its user. Clients Ana María and Manuel, made the decision of spending as much time as possible in their summerhouse in Sant Mori. Located between Figueres and Girona, Sant Mori is a small village with irregular geometry, a scenery which offers a characteristic Mediterranean landscape to its inhabitants, bounded by fields and forests.

The concept was to bring back the space’s vitality with the intention of making it the house’s exterior heart: a meeting point, an exterior room for the family. An area under a canopy’s shade, where three generations would coexist, chat and share moments.

The pool area was originally a place of joy and gathering for the family in summer. Due to the pasing of time and to low maintenance, it transitioned into becoming a cold, uncomfortable and neglected place.

Basking in the sun is one of the pleasures of open spaces and a canopy is a haven of shade to find rest. Embracing this, MESURA recognised the importance of returning this area the identity it once had.

MESURA had a clear solution: Generate– a new facade with dominant horizontality on the existing common facade, enabling this space to carry a sense of unity.

The canopy and storeroom share a common roof: a solo supportive element, that comes to rests on a concrete wall. This connecting line has the authority of assuming everything the project demands: a subtle edge yet complex beam brings together the sliding doors that compose the facade of the storeroom at its lower edge and produces the gutter at its upper profile. One single element providing three accomplished objectives.

The light belts of the canopy cast a sequence of changeable shadows on the ground, reflecting the passing of time.

The project Blasco-Nicolau is an example of how MESURA recognises a small intervention is able to generate an enormous impact on architecture’s function and enjoyment. An effort to reduce what is strictly functional and an aim to achieve the highest quality of the space.

The intelligent use of all available materials, including the way they are carefully selected, leads to a transforming, while at the same time, calm and restrained intervention.

Location: Sant Mori, Spain | Project date: May 2015 | Construction date: July 2016 | Awards: Ascer Award XV – Finalist, WAN Small Spaces Award 2016 – long listed.