Izaskun Chinchilla

Rehabilitación de una casa solariega . Camerma

Izaskun Chinchilla . fotos: © Carlos Lozano . © Borja Lorenzo . © Maria Carmona

Historically, ancestral homes are the properties that has fostered the coexistence and represented the families that owned them. Regardless of their location, their grandeur, their time and their site all of them have borne the signs –names, heraldry or aesthetic tastes- of their tenants. The house was a reflection of the family character and, in certain way, it took a representative role. This house in Carmena, a small town 40 kilometers away from Toledo, is not an exception.

The refurbishment project takes as point of departure the challenge of transforming an existing architecture, but also essentially that of critically recovering the ‘good customs’ of the past blending them with the contemporary ways of life. The design proposed therefore rejects the need for historical legibility in interventions of heritage, associated to Athens Charter, as absolute value, particularly when this intervention affects the activity of users or forces to undertake a structural cleansing that takes away the warmth that for many a house must have. As a consequence, the importance that textures, finishes and details have in achieving well being is preserved, reinterpreted with a critical and open gaze. This confidence in tradition has allow to place wicker-type doors in the storage areas, to have a modern and safe electrical wired braided over exposed frames, making its replacement and repair easier, or to assemble by hand certain pieces in order to introduce vegetal images. Old materials allow building new structures, with greater span and capacity, whereas current ones are braided to evoke ancestral woodwork and carving. Moreover, in almost all the cases, the material used comes from demolitions, turning time into an excellent ally.
The house is organized around and open courtyard which is accessed after crossing a gate made out of reused pieces of wood and metal. The courtyard floor is tiled and presided by a pool. Above it athe ceramic wall represent an abstract version of a Monet poppy field painting. In the rear part of the courtyard a sauna is topped by three large windows protected by a canopy that moderates the entrance of sunlight in summer and let it pass in winter. Inside the house of two floors, the lower one concentrate the public program, while the upper one, currently under construction- will accommodate the bedrooms and more private spaces.

Rehabilitación de una casa solariega en Camerma, provincia de Toledo
Lugar: Carmena, Toledo, España
Uso del edificio: Vivienda rehabilitada
Fecha: Periodo de diseño Febrero-Mayo 2009. Periodo de construcción Enero 2010
Superficie: 374m2
Altura: 8m
Materiales principales: Ladrillo, arcilla y madera. Todos los materiales usados en la rehabilitación procedían del derribo