This house occupies a gap in the main street of the small Galician fishing village of Corrubedo.Sitting at the northern edge of a large protected bay on Spain’s north west Atlantic coast,the site offers dramatic views out over the harbour and to the sea beyond.Unlike the other buildings along the harbour side which turn their backs to the sea,facing instead the enclosed spaces of the village,the house looks to exploit the views afforded by its location and orientate all of its internal spaces towards the ocean.

From the sea,the collection of individual and apparently random buildings in Corrubedo form a kind of village elevation-a thin ribbon of buildings that although made up of houses of varying heights and geometries,still presents itself as a unified and solid arrangement.The introduction of a new house with different priorites had to take into consideration its place within this wall.Looking to provide a sense of continuity,therefore,the house sits on a solid stone and concrete base,and its upper mass,like the neighbouring houses,is punctured by small windows.A large panoramic window,extending the full width of the house,provides all-encompassing views across the beach and harbour.

In this way,rather than resisting the surrounding geometries,the house takes them into its own form.This strategy is most apparent on the street side of the building where the colliding geometries of adjoining houses extend across the building ,dictating its formal composition.Internally this pattern is repeated with stairs,bedrooms,and living spaces articulated according to differing geometries,while on top of the house ,introducing its own more organic outline,a large enclosed roof terrace forms a framed and protected view of the sea.

Looking out from this terrace ,the house can clearly be seen to maintain a sense of continuity with the rest of the harbour side,while at the same time its silhouette,angular spaces and white walls offer something striking and new.

Client:Private
Gross Floor Area:210 m2
Associate Archtect: Carlos Fontenla,Carlos Seoane
Structural Engineer:Jane Wernick Associat
General Contractor:Serinfra S.A.
Photography:Helene Binet

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