The architecture project is presented under the following conditions. A couple bought one of the few available plots on the Bay of Biscay coastline. After scouting every seaside village from Plentzia to San Vicente de la Barquera for nearly a year, they found the place they where looking for in a residential estate from the 1970?s near Loredo, a summer resort outside of Santander. The plot slopes downwards and is cut by a 30 meter-high cliff against which the waves break. The Northern sea wind is very rough, making it hard for trees to grow by the coastline. Whenever someone new to the area arrives, they wonder why the house faces south and gives its back to the sea. Southern orientation and the sun are most appreciated by people from the highlands who come around to buy a holiday house, while the sea is just obvious.
The architects, on the contrary, came from far away looking for the sea, the wind, the waves, and therefore decided to get plot number 21, even if going against the tide. Designed by NOLASTER, the property requires a holiday house program, able to adjust to changes related to the number of users, the season, and so on. This complex program is solved attending to values of low energy, spatial simplicity and flexibility of use. The house’s program, arranged in bands perpendicular to the longitudinal plot axis, is as follows: living/dining/library + office; Santander room + bathroom + toilet/storage + kitchen + double bathroom + multiview room; vertical patio + north hall + access patio; introverted room + indiscreet bathroom + brief space + flexible space + open bathroom + tub room; void patio + south hall + fern patio; multiple room + bathroom + south raised living + bathroom + no vacancies room.
