Fran Silvestre Arquitectos have placed a white inhabited viewing platform on the cliffs. Its breathtaking minimal, geometric form only emphasises the temporariness of the residence’s visit as if it is on air ready to take off at any time. The house emphasises its presence emphatically differentiating itself from the landscape.

Casa del Acantilado | House on the Cliff by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos from Fran Silvestre Arquitectos on Vimeo.

‘We like the virtue of architecture which makes possible constructing a house on air, walking on water…

An abrupt plot of land overlooking the sea, where what is best is to do nothing. It invites to stay.

A piece that respects the land’s natural contour is set in it.

Above, a shadow, the house itself, looking calmly at the Mediterranean.

Under the sun, the swimming-pool brings us closer to the sea, it becomes a quiet cove.

In the inflection point, the stairway proposes an evocative path, a garden in the basement…

Due to the steepness of the plot and the desire to contain the house in just one level, a three-dimensional structure of reinforced concrete slabs and screens adapting to the plot’s topography was chosen, thus minimizing the earthwork. This monolithic, stone-anchored structure generates a horizontal platform from the accessing level, where the house itself is located. The swimming-pool is placed on a lower level, on an already flat area of the site. The concrete structure is insulated from the outside and then covered by flexible and smooth white lime stucco. The rest of materials, walls, pavements, the gravel on the roof… all maintain the same colour, respecting the traditional architecture of the area, emphasizing it and simultaneously underlining the unity of the house.’

ARCHITECT: FRAN SILVESTRE ARQUITECTOS | Estudio de Arquitectura, Valencia, Spain. VIDEO: Alfonso Calza. LOCATION: Toix Mascarat, Calpe, Alicante, Spain. DESCRIPTION: residential. STATUS: completed. AREA: 242.00 sqm. PROJECT TEAM: Fran Silvestre and María José Sáez, Principals in charge; Maria Masià, Adrián Mora, Jordi Martínez, José V. Miguel, Collaborating Architects. STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: David Gallardo | UPV. BUILDING ENGINEERS: Vicente Ramos, Esperanza Corrales, Javier Delgado. INTERIOR DESIGN: Alfaro Hofmann. MARKETING & COMMUNICATION: Adrián Mora, Architect. COLLABORATORS: Fran Ayala and Ángel Fito, Architects. CONTRACTOR: Construcciones Alabort. DATE: 2012. No part of this web site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Morfae and the copyright owner.