New housing development between party walls in Sant Pere de Ribes (Garraf)

New property development between party walls in Sant Pere de Ribes (Garraf Region, Barcelona). The plot is located in the very heart of town, in an area where traditional architecture from the beginning and middle of the last century coexists with more recent developments.

The plot is rectangular and has a façade on either end: it opens onto both the main street and a passageway. The existing height difference between the two streets is almost equal to that of one floor.

The property developer wishes to take advantage of all of the building space available on this plot, as permitted by urban planning regulations: the ground floor plus three upper floors.

The first design decision was to rule out the possibility of having the kitchen-dining-living area on the ground floor, as this is slightly lower than the level of the passageway and, therefore, would lack the desired natural light conditions.

For this reason, the decision was made to create a street level parking space on the ground floor, as well as a rear section –half-open and half-covered– for a swimming pool and patio area.

On the upper floors, the interior staircase runs in a single, linear flight, parallel to one of the party walls and is located in the interior corridor of the house, which allows for space on either side of it, illuminating the rooms on both sides of the house.

Both façades are completely white, with a sloping Spanish-tile roof, generously-sized eaves and windows framed by locally-sourced stone. Their design is in keeping with the surrounding houses, which were built at the beginning of the last century, blending in naturally with the collective landscape.