Nueva Arquitectura Española

Prometeos house, Spain 2009 Xavier Vilalta Studio d' Arquitectura PROMETEOS HOUSE_ A STEP TOWARDS Democratic Architecture According to Greek Mythology, Prometheus - one of the Titans and the creator of humans - stole the fire from the Gods and gave it as a present to mortals so that they could live better. This democratic action was severely punished by the Olympians, but what he did allowed humans to change their way of life. Good design is thought of as eccentricity, or a privilege of the rich. In fact, it is - or at least it should be - the rightful acquisition of everybody. And not only is it not a luxury to live in a well designed house, but it is also responsible to the environment. A well oriented window costs exactly as much as a badly placed one; a porch in the right position to permit direct sun from entering and heating immensely doesn’t increase the cost of the house. But wrong design decisions increase to an important degree the energy and money spent in air conditioning. And this is just an example to show how much more sustainable can be the architecture produced by orientating a house well. The housing system “Prometeos” (designed by Xavier Vilalta Studio) is destined to answer to exactly those two directions: To democratize good design by giving more attractive, comfortable and elegant spaces, and to achieve minimum environmental impact simply by adjusting to the most suitable orientation. In addition to all that the system is totally industrialized, diminishing construction time and cost. The project basis is adaptability to the site and customization to the person’s needs. It is an open system of houses that allows generating a wide variety of final outcomes. The combination of the basic pieces and their movement, both in plan and in section, gives allows to the houses to adapt to the geometry of the site, take in account environmental factors and to generate a prototype expandable over time. The volumes of each house are joined by a core of circulations, working as a “kneecap”. With very few changes in this pattern, the versatility of the typologies is achieved. This system initially offers 7 different versions, but it can expand and generate as many types as the site would require. In a technical level three major challenges have been followed: - The interpretation of the bioclimatic strategies of traditional architecture contextualized to a contemporary style and adapted to the current external conditions. That way we achieve very low energy demand, thanks to the system’s adaptability to the sun and climatic conditions of the surroundings. - The research of recyclable and high-efficient materials, to watch proper construction experience, of minimum environmental impact, the use of recycled and recyclable materials and to supply the most as possible by renewable energies. - The development of low cost bioclimatic elements in order to provide an affordable and economical house. We cannot conceive bio-climatic architecture without a correct cost-benefit relation. The Prometeos House is already in the Spanish market and the two first prototypes are being built. Prometeos house images / information from Xavier Vilalta Studio d' Arquitectura 060209 Also by Xavier Vilalta Studio : Arreletes Day Care Center, Els Alamús, Spain Practice details Xavier Vilalta i Sabartés (Mollerussa, 1980), studies in Barcelona and the United States where he moves with an international student scholarship and obtains the "named to the Dean List" in the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He has represented the Barcelona School of Architecture in several post-graduate programs in Princeton-New Jersey, Rice-Houston, AA-London, París-Bellville and UCLA-Los Angeles. He has taught and lectured in several universities in Spain and since 2008 he is an Associate Professor of the ETSA Barcelona. XAVIER VILALTA STUDIO operates since 2004 in the fields of architecture, planning, public space, interior and industrial design. The bases of the studio are the excellent design, a precise control of program and a budget, a professional management and the importance and value of the Architecture. The office is organized with a vision of work as a research in each project, a process of finding new morphologies though the most advanced technologies, a constant study to develop new materials and the aim to integrate architecture with the landscape to obtain a high end Architecture project. Xavier Vilalta Studio d ' Arquitectura studio based in Barcelona LEAF Awards 2008 Shortlist : Young Architect - Xavier Vilalta

QVE arquitectos

photograph: Eduardo Moratinos