Los Limoneros

Program – The plot is situated in a suburban area of private villas next to a golf course near Marbella, Spain. 
The program is a house for a family with kids and guest rooms for visiting friends, a total of 480 m2 inside area. There was an existing house, typical for the area with a beautiful garden, so we kept the plants. Living outside in a private garden – Being in Andalucia, in the south of Spain, the idea was to create a huge garden with large covered outside spaces, giving some shade when needed, where you could live outside day and night, all year long. It’s all about catching that twilight with your friends and family, chilling out with some tapas and great Spanish wines. At the same time we needed to create the necessary privacy towards the neighbouring buildings, so you could live outside without being exposed. The concept therefore is that the whole site is a garden surrounded with a peripheral wall filled with content, that’s the living room, a private garden. Above that living room landscape we set a patio house ‐ a house over a private garden. In the winter time, one covered part of the private garden can be closed with sliding windows and heated.

Periphery is central – The periphery and the surrounding wall are filled with different programs, so it communicates with the central space of the ground floor. These contents wrap around the living space/garden like a neverending landscape: a still water pond with waterfall, turtles and morning sun, herb garden, kitchen, BBQ lounge, pool lounge, swimming pool, chill-out pool area, jungle, atelier/library, the entrance. Depending of what time of the day, social occupancy and what mood you're in, you choose to interact with the peripheral programs, from leisure and sport to reading, chilling, cooking, etc. There is an over-the-edge opening along the poolside, where there is a beautiful view to the mountains and where the evening sun comes in.

The house is above the garden – The bedrooms, family lounge and yoga terrace are on the first floor. A patio with a perforated stone facade filters the light into the wardrobes and circulations of the private areas. Each room has a bathroom and a private patio attached. The master bedroom, bathroom and patio can be joined to one open space, enjoying sleeping and bathing outside, without being seen.

White sculpture and blue Andalucía sky – There are no windows or openings to the outside/public space, so the house appears as a white and cubic sculpture, similar to the Moorish patio houses in Andalucia.
 Only the plants give a sign of the interior life to the outside.
 Everything is covered in white plaster, creating this endless playful landscape just covered by the deep blue Andalucia sky.