A Ruin - Tailor Made
February 3, 2009
A Ruin-Tailor Made
Words by Urban Nilmander
Photos by Carin Tegner
A building half fallen into decay. A space tailor-made to live in for one special person. An architectonic experiment where the fundamental feature was to create a habitable ruin, una ruina habitada.
When you come driving on the small road towards the village of Porquera de los Infantes, 100 km north of Palencia in northern Spain, the first thing that hits you is that this is just another one of those Spanish villages that once had a life and then fell into oblivion. Most of the houses have collapsed and only a few people have chosen to stay.
On the outskirts of the village is a house that is considerably younger than the rest. At first it looks like just another abandoned and forgotten house. Coming closer to the house you start to realize why so many have visited the almost abandoned village lately and why the Spanish leading newspaper El-Pais saw fit to write about this strange house.
The architect behind the experiment is Jesus Castillo. Outside the house he tells us to wait while he goes in to prepare the house for visitors. When he opens the heavy, rusty, iron gate we realize why it needs such preparation. The entrance to the Japanese Zen-inspired garden with meticulously raked white sand is illuminated and water is running down a central sheet of clear glass.
In one corner of the "garden" there is a small tree that blossoms with red flowers in the Autumn and above your head is the open sky and as you approach the house we see the huge glass wall that marks the entry to the space within. Further on into the house a deep green glare from a holographic glass meets your eyes. A green that turns to red as the sun revolves around the house.
The garden was created by the landscape gardener Ricardo Zendrera with sand, running water and a couple of small trees.
"The patio is essential for the whole house. It´s there for the first impression, calmness is created and the glass wall creates that feeling of endless space that I wanted. My original idea was to build a house that was as open and light as possible. And to do it with a person who would in detail tell how he wanted it to look. Fernando liked the idea but it took four years before we were satisfied with one another as Jesus Castillo, the architect of the ruin house recalls. As the house was for Fernando Gallardo, one of Spain's best known journalists and author of several guide books, the central concept of the house as an extension to a lifestyle of movement and travel is a core idea.
Fernando himself sees his house as the culmination of his interests in design - "I have always been interested in architecture and I´m a big fan of Japanese house building with simplicity as the major ethic. The house I wanted had to be had to be a little avant-garde, a little tattered, something that touched emotions without being extravagant. Like art it had to change in the eyes of the person who sees it." Fernando Gallardo says.
For his part the architect Jesus Castillo is inspired by Scandinavian architecture with its light and open solutions and all the windows in the habitable ruin are big and lack totally the traditional Spanish blinds and curtain glass wall that separates the small garden from the rest of the house. As much as it is a home from a ruin, it is also a project which moves away from the compartments of traditional Spanish homes. "It was very important for me to let the sun decide what kind of feeling would inhabit the house. When the sun shines in the afternoon on the glass wall all you see is the sky reflected in the body of the building."
Unusually in the scheme of these projects it was the architect that became house-hunter, by persuading Fernando Gallardo to be the new owner of the half decayed former warehouse, a long journey of discussions started mostly about things that would work for the practicalities of the project as a whole, and of core importance became the question of light and lighting.
Apart from the influence from the sun Jesus Castillo created a complex system of computer controlled lights. In the ceiling a round lamp changes into the colours of the rainbow. Other lamps are connected to the central and to the most important area of the house, the shower. One lamp is turned on above the huge shower placed five meters up in the ceiling, and the light makes the water glitter on its way down. "My idea was that the house would be experienced totally different in day-time and at night. And of course follow the seasons. At day-time the sun rules while the lamps would force its way in to your conscience ." Jesus Castillo says.
The house being tailor-made for Fernando Gallardo, means that it almost completely lacks every sign of a kitchen yet below the wooden "kitchen" floor there is a bodega for wines. A house created for a person who doesn´t cook but loves a good wine. No unnecessary things or furniture save for an armchair made of cow-skin, a Le Corbusier LC2. Two chairs called Egeoa, designed by Stua company and a mobile iron table designed by Jesus Castillo that is used both inside and outside. There are, by choice, no paintings on the walls. "That was one thing when we didn´t agree on from the beginning. Fernando (the client) loves art but I thought it would disturb the simple appearance of the house." says Jesus Castillo. "In the end, it is only Salvador Dalís big eyes that follow you wherever you are."
Like all Architect/Client relationships the project was at times interrupted by the uniqueness of the project at hand and the amount of care and thought that both client and architect placed into the design and detailing of the house. Good architecture is as much about the details one chooses to leave out, as those which one chooses to place within. During the four years of thinking and constructing the 115 sqm building, the architect and the owner, had to find an agreement they both could stand. The fundamental idea, to create something light and unexpected, was something they had in common and it solved the disagreements. "It takes a huge amount of confidence between two persons to carry out this kind of experiment under such a long period of time" says Jesus Castillo.
What was clear from the outset is that from an early stage of the building work, detail would be kept to a minimum, with details such as underfloor heating (very unusual in Spain) to avoid radiators on the walls and as, much as possible, hidden services. A further theme of the house is that within the ruin of the shell, the outside would be a continuation of the themes inside the building, so the black stone continues into the 'shell' of the garden.
At the entrance a big black wall has heating inside and the same a heated stone is erected into a large featiure shower area. The heating system is of course a result of this being a part of Spain (between Palencia and Santander) that can get very cold in the winter. The materials in the building are simple, steel, glass, stone with internal structural detailing of aged oak.
"It was meant to be a low budget house, simple" Jesus Castillo says and the materials usage had to be distinct so that it showed the clarity of the whole project and give the idea of the 'ruin' a chance to become the theme of the interior as well as the exterior. Which is why Fernando Gallardo decided not to plaster internally but keep the holes in the bricks open to nature, and to give a feeling of contemplation to the overall effect of the house.
"It´s very interesting when I invite guests to come to visit me in my new house. They are so surprised when they see the ugliness, the disaster of the ruin, as a contrast to the essential delicacy of the interior. Maybe they are confused from the beginning because the ruin is situated in such a romantic, rural area. It´s very interesting to see how people react."
Since Fernando Gallardo didn´t need the whole house the possibility of keeping the feeling of ruin was a lot easier. "Half the house could be left open and didn´t need any windows. The idea was to express the feeling of something closed in that falls apart." The big windows in the living area have been attached on the exterior of the house and made 15 cm bigger than the brick openings. "The thought was to get the feeling that there are no windows at all. No closed rooms."
The shower is another example of a total clash with the Spanish interior tradition. It´s huge, dominating and open over two floors with a glass wall facing the garden for privacy. "Spanish showers are usually small, narrow, uncomfortable and totally closed. We wanted to break away from all that." says Jesus Castillo. The shower also has two glass sliding doors, one contains the WC and the other is a minimal wardrobe for a man who is always travelling.
The story of the house is not only something for designers and architects, but for a new way of looking at rural restoration, as we are about to leave three locals knock on the door and ask if they can have a look."I´m fixing my house and need some inspiration. This is really something" one of them says.
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