Rául Sánchez Architects creates"play of contrasts" at House in Cala Tamarit

Spanish studio Rául Sánchez Architects has taken advantage of a sloping site in Tarragona to create a concrete home with a sunken courtyard, which opens up into a double-height living area.

Named House in Cala Tamarit, the orthogonal, exposed concrete dwelling was created for two online, remote workers who wanted a home that could offer a "tangible, physical experience".

"Precisely because their work is so immaterial, they wanted their future house to be the opposite: material over immaterial, volume and mass over lightness, experience over immediacy," explained founder Rául Sánchez.

House in Cala Tamarit was designed by Rául Sánchez Architects to be a "play of contrasts", contained within two blocks topped by a roof terrace and staggered to create external balconies and verandas.

The route into the home begins with a concrete stair that descends into the sunken garden courtyard, before opening into an expansive, double-height living space.

"The ceremony of descending the steps and losing the view of the environment leads into a very intimate and silent space, with the tinted walls and the sky above," said Sánchez.

"Then you enter the house and, go through some not-aligned spaces, and get into the double-height living room with such a contrast of openness and height," Sánchez added.

"Thus, as is a constant in my work, this house reveals its complexity as you discover – walk through it, and it has much more to offer than what it seems at first sight."

House in Cala Tamarit's material palette follows this concept of contrasts. Externally, it is finished in concrete made with a warm yellow pigment – required due to local building regulations – and features ribs of timber that shade and provide privacy to its windows.

Inside, exposed concrete and white-painted walls left blank for the client's collection of artwork wrap the largely flexible and flowing layout.

On the opposite side of the home, the living space and kitchen open out onto a series of stepped terraces, with a seating area above and a swimming pool below, which ends where the garden drops into a tree-filled ravine.

A skylit metal staircase wraps the living room and leads up to the first-floor bedrooms, which are given a warmer feel by built-in timber storage units and tiled bathrooms.

A blocky form and sense of "discovery" also informed a previous home by Rául Sánchez Architects near Barcelona, which presents a blank facade to the street but reveals itself upon descending onto a cantilevering terrace.

Other Spanish homes recently featured on Dezeen include the minimalist Barcelona House by Ström Architects and Casa Tres Patis, which Twobo Arquitectura organised around a series of distinct patios.

The photography is by David Zarzoso. 

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