Project: House in Pantano de San Juan
Architects: GEO Arquitectos
Location: Cebreros, Spain
Area: 8,395 sf
Photographs by: Courtesy of GEO Arquitectos
House in Pantano de San Juan by GEO Arquitectos
The House in Pantano de San Juan is a stunning contemporary project undertaken by GEO Arquitectos. This 8,000 square foot dwelling overlooks a beautiful lake so naturally, its design aims to make the most out of the beautiful natural surroundings in Cebreros, Spain.
A swamp is a river that stretches in the valley. That’s how we conceived the house that would lift on its shore, as a life extended into the margins of the place. The origin of the project was the life of their inhabitants. We got the possibility to meet first hand their hobbies, deepen their desires and dig in their memories, as it turn up, the owners used to have a small house near the place, in which they already experienced different ways of dwelling that they wanted to keep; it was therefore crucial to know this way of life.
Imagine an extreme exposure to the lake wasn’t an argument easy to defend, contrary to what it happens with the sea, here the weather didn’t required any special protection, thus the chosen location and the height in which stands, only rely on principles of territoriality. Thereby building open in range to the landscape, trying to draw all it’s possibilities. Refusing the front view we studied the prospects that would give greater richness to these views, each room claimed a framing, a foreshortening of the mountains, a view of the far edge… The architecture was drawing itself from the looks, imagining in accordance with the activities in each room, in harmony with the world of life.
Given the steep slope of the plot, we understood that the image of the house should not be composed through the usual designs, consequently, we worked on the external image perceived from the access, according to a roof-façade composition, forcing us to use the same material in both of them, without neglecting the composition of the intersection; and in the view towards the lake, we maximize the expressive force of the false ceilings of Wood as distinctive elements of the image of the house.
