Benetusser Apartment
Benetusser Apartment
DETAILS
Full renovation | Design and documentation
Year 2024
82 m2 | 3 Bedrooms | 1 Bathroom | Courtyard-Terrace
TEAM
Pedro Garcia, Maaike Pullar
The renovation of a 1960s dwelling in the centre of Benetússer is grounded in a specific condition of the property: its private access to the large terrace at the centre of the building as the first floor apartment. This situation, common in residential buildings across the metropolitan area of Valencia, becomes the driving force of the project, shifting the character of the apartment towards a configuration closer to that of a patio house.
The proposal reorganises the dwelling around this privileged relationship with the interior courtyard. The daytime areas are placed at the centre of the plan, in direct contact with the terrace, reinterpreting the logic of traditional domestic patios found in Mediterranean urban environments. The bedrooms are moved either to the main façade or to the rear of the apartment, freeing up the heart of the dwelling as a shared, communal space.
The living area is conceived as a single, continuous space that brings together living room, dining area and kitchen, structured by two complementary envelopes. On the one hand, a floor plane rises to become a wall in the kitchen area; on the other, a vertical plane is extended onto the ceiling through a continuous wainscot and a series of linear elements—shelves, beams and lighting fixtures. These two envelopes, almost symmetrical, define a unitary space that dialogues with tradition through a contemporary language, granting the dwelling a perceptual scale greater than its actual size.
The floor envelope is materialised with square white tiles, grouted in an earthy tone, interrupted by lines of terracotta tiles that recall traditional urban pavements from southern Spain. The wall and ceiling envelope is resolved in an albero yellow, a colour common to the architecture of the Spanish Levant and Andalusia. Together, these planes generate a recognisable and familiar atmosphere, open and luminous, closely connected to the imagery of the Mediterranean summer.
At the centre of the common space, the kitchen is conceived as an autonomous and almost sculptural element, evoking a summer kiosk or chiringuito. The composition is organised around a blue U‑shaped element that integrates the base units and encloses the fridge and pantry columns at its centre, intersected by an L‑shaped element in a sandy colour that defines the upper cabinets.
Within the daytime area, the bathroom is designed as an independent cabin, wrapped in ceramic tiles and articulated through the same gestures of envelope and central object. Its scale and atmosphere are closer to that of a swimming‑pool changing room or spa than to a conventional domestic bathroom.
The bedrooms are conceived as private retreats, small cabins within the overall composition. A perforated ceiling sets them apart spatially, while storage is resolved through a topography of open wardrobes and hanging rails, reinforcing their light and autonomous character.
The intervention thus constructs a dwelling organised around an interior patio, reinterpreting the Mediterranean imagery of summer and the patio house through a contemporary spatial logic.