Project Name
MQBlanca 1
Location
Cabo de las Huertas
Alicante
Spain
Project Team
Carlos García, Iván Capdevila, Vicente Iborra
Area (sqm)
291
Completed
2022
Detailed Information
Project NameMQBlanca 1Location
Cabo de las Huertas
Alicante
Spain
Project TeamCarlos García, Iván Capdevila, Vicente Iborra
Area (sqm)291Completed2022

When Alicante-based architects PLAYstudio were commissioned to design a holiday house in Cabo de las Huertas, a local community that takes its name from the lighthouse that marks the rocky promontory it occupies, they turned for inspiration to the modernist architectural typologies that defined the urban development of Costa Blanca in the 1960s. Unlike the showy Mediterranean villas that dominate the region’s contemporary architecture, their design is characterized by its cubist rigour, stripped down elegance and nuanced monochrome palette. A masterstroke of simplicity, the project nevertheless features intriguing features like a variety of brick lattice patterns and a visible structural grid, both hallmarks of Alicante’s tourism-fuelled post-war construction boom, not to mention a 25-metre-long, single-lane swimming pool, a request by the client, which informed the building’s unique volumetric composition.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

In order to accommodate the client’s request for a 25-metre-long pool, which extends almost across the entire length of the plot, the majority of the living spaces are housed on an L-shaped upper floor whose shorter side stretches over the pool. An open-plan living and dining room and a separate guest room can be found on the lower level on either side of the pool. This arrangement ensures that the building mass doesn’t “smother” the pool as well as makes space for a large garden and offers expansive views to upper floor rooms. Having to contend with a sloping terrain, the pool juts out of the ground at the entrance courtyard which means that you can swim up to the edge of the property and keep an eye on the entrance courtyard from above.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Despite its simple geometric form and monochromatic white palette, the house is imbued with a subtle complexity thanks to a variety of different latticed wall patterns enveloping the exterior. Providing both shade and privacy, the brick and ceramic latticed surfaces also pay homage to Costa Blanca’s modernist heritage. Adding more nuanced complexity is an assortment of finishes, from matt brick surfaces, satin-finished carpentry and glazed ceramic latticework to stone paving to smooth pebbles, which turn the building’s all-white exterior into a richly textured canvas. As subtly designed are the house’s interiors whose minimalist aesthetic is enriched by the decorative latticed patterns and the verdant views of the surroundings.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

Photography by Luis Díaz Díaz.

More Than White: A Monochromatic House in Alicante Belies a Complexity of Patterns and Finishes

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