The clients owned a steeply sloping plot at the highest point of a residential estate in Malgrat de Mar, in the Maresme, with open views over the landscape. They wanted a contemporary, highly efficient house with a fixed cost from the outset.

That is why we designed the house with an industrialised system of reinforced concrete panels made in a factory. Unlike a modular house, each panel is designed to suit the project, so the house can adapt to the land and the views while keeping the advantages of industrialisation: quality control, fast assembly and a turnkey budget.

The plot, at the highest point of the estate, has a significant slope. Instead of filling the land, the concrete panel house steps down over three levels: the entrance and garage at the bottom, and the main rooms on the upper floors, open to the views. The concrete volumes rest on the hillside and create terraces and a porch facing the landscape.

The façade walls are load-bearing reinforced concrete panels made in a factory, under controlled humidity and temperature conditions and with much tighter tolerances than on site. Each panel incorporates external thermal insulation, so the concrete is protected from the weather and from temperature changes, which extends its durability.

The façades and the floor and ceiling structures are assembled dry, on a clean, well-planned site, and the thermal envelope is complete as soon as the panels are in place. The system, developed with a specialist manufacturer, allowed us to work with a turnkey budget.

The living room opens up to the views through large windows and a covered porch that runs its full length. The porch keeps out the summer sun and lets in the winter sun, so solar gains are highest when they are most needed. The finishes are simple and durable: solid oak floors, porcelain tiles in the bathrooms and a clean-lined staircase.