Something is intriguing about a house you can’t see, and that’s exactly what fans can expect in the latest episode of The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes.
Tonight the BBC Two show visits a Rural House in Spain, built for a Michelin star chef, which is a collection of 11 specially crafted steel boxes made to look like agricultural containers, and cleverly hidden by a man-made ridge. Even more incongruously, it’s located just meters away from a farmer’s slurry pit.
Viewers will also see a spectacular property that doubles as a miniature village, the brainchild of three sisters who all wanted to live on the same plot of their father’s land.
Elsewhere a unique 45m diameter ‘ring’ house sits on a vast hilltop, its moving glass walls offering 360-degree views of the spectacular scenery, and a fourth property manages to evoke Stonehenge with its concrete girders.
Presenters Caroline Quentin and Piers Taylor explore all four extraordinary Spanish homes in tonight’s episode, revealing how the architects behind them have pushed the boundaries and rewritten the rule book.
RURAL HOUSE
Rural House is a collection of eleven metal blocks set in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and hidden in farmland
The minimalist interior betrays nothing, even the television is contained in its own metal box that rises out of the floor
The property is surrounded by farmland, with the living room looking out onto a slurry pit where the cows graze
The unusual structure of Rural House, nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees in Olot, Spain, recently won architect Rafael Aranda the prestigious Pritzker Architect Prize.
Built for a famous chef and her family, it is designed to look like a series of agricultural buildings that merge with the landscape. Eleven blocks made entirely of rusted metal and linked by a steel corridor feature a master bedroom at one end and three bedrooms at the opposite end.
The kitchen and dining room are in one section, with a very minimalist open-plan living in the next. Inside, steelwork runs throughout as part of the interior decor, with belongings and utility rooms hidden behind steel doors that are flush with the walls.
Even the television is kept hidden out of sight in a metal box that rises from the floor of the living room. The minimalist approach is too much for presenter Caroline Quentin who says: ‘It’s aesthetically pleasing, but I imagine it can be a challenge to live with.’
Michelin star chef Fina Puigdevall wanted somewhere she can retreat to away from the busy nearby city of Olot where she works
The entire house is made of metal with the architect has taking an extremely minimal approach
Fina’s hub – the kitchen – is also kept clutter-free with the steel doors hiding away tools and ingredients
The architect built the house in deliberate contrast to its owner’s busy lifestyle. As an in-demand Michelin star chef, Fina Puigdevall wanted somewhere to retreat that was quite literally hidden away from the busy hub of the city center of Olot.
She said: ‘I think it’s a great idea that you enter the house below ground level. You never see cars, just nature. ‘The smell is very important to me and the sound of the birds and when cows arrive in the morning you can hear them pulling up the grass in the field.
HEMEROSCOPIUM HOUSE
The unusual property is made up of seven vast concrete and steel beams each supporting each other in an upward spiral held in place by a 20-tonne piece of granite as a counterweight
The decor is kept sleek and modern throughout, with the enormous glass windows allowing the gaze to go straight through the house
The striking concrete girders took owner and architect Anton Garcia Abril a year to calculate their positioning
Hemeroscopium House is on the outskirts of Madrid, surrounded by traditional suburban properties which make its striking concrete girders stand out even more.
Owner and architect Anton Garcia Abril spent an entire year calculating the positioning of each element, creating an upward spiral of concrete and steel beams that each support each other, and are held in place by a 20-tonne piece of granite as a counterweight.
Although it’s modern, Caroline says the contemporary property feels historic: ‘It reminds me a little of Stonehenge,’ she says.
For Ancient Greeks Hemeroscopium was a place only existed in the mind that meant where the sun sets
Anton’s four children all share one enormous room with two bunk beds and a striking feature just outside…
… just outside their bedroom window is a swimming pool that sits inside one of the steel girders
The eye is immediately drawn to the structure, but other striking elements are woven in too, like a swimming pool on the ground floor and a courtyard perfect for barbecues.
Another surprise lies just outside the window of the children’s bedroom – where two bunk beds are situated for the owner’s four children – where there is a second swimming pool sunken inside one of the beams, perfect for an early morning swim.
The concrete walls have been left exposed throughout the house, making it part of the decor within the enormous open-plan living space, master bedroom, and children’s bedroom.
A HOUSE FOR THREE SISTERS
The property in south Spain has three identical and separate houses for three sisters to live in with their families
All three houses are linked with one shared courtyard where they often come together to eat and enjoy family time
South Spain is the location of the plot of land where A House For Three Sisters was built by Blancafort-Reus Architecture.
Maria, Rene and Manuka inherited their father’s land in Bullas and their dream was to all live there as one big family. It resulted in the creation of a mini ‘village’, three separate homes linked together by a shared courtyard at the center.
Each house also has its own private courtyard area in case there’s a need for personal time away from each other
The separate houses each have a master bedroom which has a roof terrace looking out at the surroundings
The interior decor has a homely feel to it, with Caroline pointing out that it looks lived-in and not pretentious
The houses are all identical – although one is ‘flipped’ according to architect Piers – but each has a private outside space, a roof terrace off the master bedroom, and a downstairs living area with a further two bedrooms.
The sisters jointly run a successful fashion business in the center of the city, so their mini village is a perfect retreat – close, but with each having their own living space. ‘Five years ago we decided to build the dream,’ said the woman.
SOLO HOUSE 2
The house shaped in a ring sits on top of the hill in the Spanish forest land looking out at the panoramic landscape
While it looks like there may not be much space for living – there is ample room in the slender portions of domestic space
Each area has a moving wall that allows guests to open them and bring nature directly into the living space
Solo House 2 is a holiday home built in Matarranam in northwest Spain, an area that has barely been touched by tourism.
The concept of the circular structure was realized via an art project, which gave architects a plot of land and, turning tradition on its head, gave free reign over what was built on the site.
Assigned a plot on a hilltop plateau, the architects built a 45m diameter circular design to make the most of the panoramic views.
The walls of glass help the building dissolve into the landscape, and they all slide, to encourage the huge expanse of surrounding nature to become part of the house itself.
The bedroom and bathroom both look out onto the beautiful scenery by moving away the walls
The curve of the property allows a 360-degree viewpoint of the Spanish hillside and is a perfect retreat from the hustle and bustle
Steel poles were dug into the land to support the structure, which was then poured with concrete to create the circle shape
While it appears there isn’t much room for living, the ring is divided into four crescent shapes of domestic space at four points.
There is an outdoor utility room, a master bedroom, two more bedrooms, and a living area with a kitchen diner. Nearby is a second high-concept house perched on top of the hill surrounded by trees.
The owner of both, Christian Bourdais, wanted to challenge preconceptions of how we’re supposed to live.
The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes airs on BBC Two tonight at 8 pm