SPAIN – QUESA, VALENCIA
Balzar Arquitectos has designed a superb family home surrounded by olive trees in Quesa, a small town in the province of Valencia, Spain. The terracotta-coloured Casa de los Olivos is a fusion of environment and architecture, but also of inhabitants, whose history is linked to the area, founded by the Moorish community.
© David Zarzoso, @david_zarzoso / Balzar Arquitectos
The owners, originally from Barcelona, have returned to the land after spending several summers there as children. “The plot serves as a link between the urban and the rural,” explains the Spanish studio, “It’s the last grove of buildable olive trees on the outskirts of the commune.” A veranda, typical of Mediterranean culture, provides protection from the heat of the West and acts as a relay between inside and outside.
A terrace where the pool extends into the olive grove, offering spectacular sunset views. Large bay windows link the entrance, garden and courtyards to the interior spaces. As for the bedrooms, with their respective showers and bathrooms, they connect to the outside via two private courtyards.
Water is omnipresent between the semicircular outdoor pool and the indoor pool with spa and large windows. So are the materials and textures, from exotic marble and Iranian travertine to brass and olive-green woodwork. The Casa de los Olivos completes its innovation with the metal frame on which it is built, inspired by the “Balloon Frame” common in the USA, and its passive house concept for low energy needs.
Nathalie Dassa