Staff Reporter
THIS is how a ruin is converted into a wonderful place to live – while also getting nearly €20,000 in a subsidy from the state.
Transforming an old home properly will leave you with a unique and interesting space, but also add considerable value.
Arquitectos MAB have been renovating and upgrading such buildings for decades along the Costa Levante.
Working out of two studios in Orihuela city and La Zenia, the company’s clients range from large real estate developers to individual buyers with small renovation projects.
Here, the firm presents Casa 1927, the renovation of a typical house in an inland town of the Vega Baja.
The property was built by the grandparents of the owner, who was actually born on the second floor.
Now, after 40 years of being uninhabited, she made the sentimental decision to give it a new lease of life for her family.
She also wanted to conserve many of the features that she remembered fondly from her youth.
So an original archway and its beautiful hydraulic tile floors needed to become the key elements of this comprehensive rehabilitation project.
Using them as a guide to establish a new spatial layout, all the new materials and colours were influenced by these original features.
“A large curtain provides theatricality, intimacy, flexibility, dynamism and colour,” explains lead architect Antonio Campos Villanueva. “And we respected as much as we could of what already existed.”
While reusing as much as possible and keeping the footprint of the original home, there is a much stronger relationship with light, in particular through the patio and between the rooms.
“For a space to make you happy, it must meet seven attributes: Be beautiful, exciting, useful, practical, profitable, accessible and sustainable” adds Campos, whose firm MAB stands for ‘More Architecture & Building’.
Whether it is a personal project or a real estate investment, a house with history or a small beach apartment to rent, carrying out an architectural project provides so much value.
Part of the updating of the old construction involved better energy rehabilitation and the energy performance of the house combines traditional passive strategies with current ones.
Connecting and opening up the living spaces, not only opened up space but also led to better cross ventilation between the street to the north and the patio to the south.
The pergola, up which grows an old vine, provides solar protection in summer, but also allows the sun’s rays to pass through in winter after it has shed its leaves.
The vine is also a great addition to the space between the dining room-kitchen and the patio, providing climatic balance at all times of the year.
In addition to the new passive energy efficiency strategies, the house has been awarded a B-A energy rating.
Extra insulation, high-efficiency carpentry and glass, solar control elements, high-efficiency climate installations and solar thermal installation for ACS.
By adding these key energy efficient features meant obtaining €19,000 in subsidies from the PREE energy rehabilitation programme, all arranged via MAB.
If you are interested and want more information about it, you can go to www.arquitectosmab.es or write to onaru@arquitectosmab.es. They speak English
