The homes in Ontinyent are in the centre of the Comarques Centrals of the Valencian Community in Ontinyent municipality, capital of the Vall d’Albaida. The town is set against a backdrop of mountains and is surrounded by farm land, sitting on the banks of the Clariano River, and its city centre has a long history.

 

The starting point for the project was an existing building between party walls next to central Plaza de Santo Domingo in Calle Morereta. It is a residential building built in 1982 that is four storeys high with a loft on a long, rectangular plot measuring roughly 146 m2. The building currently contains two two-storey apartments, a shop on the ground floor and a warehouse.

 

The commission

 

We were commissioned to renovate the residential building both inside and out. The refurbishment will be carried out in stages. The ground floor will be renovated in the first stage.

 

Working on a new project is an exciting time. When an opportunity like this comes up, we want the design that we submit to be impeccable; in addition to meeting residents’ everyday needs, it should create a suitable atmosphere that contributes to the happiness and wellbeing of the people who will live there.

 

We see our work as being our small contribution to improving our environment, while being inspired by a search for beauty. Beauty that serves society, improving people’s lives and helping to build a better world.

 

Idea

 

The main idea was to create a pure and well-proportioned design with simple lines that naturally integrate every detail of the project, generating an atmosphere of calm and well-being in each of the building’s spaces.

 

This means cleaning and standardising all the available surface area. The staircase access space and shop with its partitions will be joined together, but the division between the shop and large warehouse will be maintained. The ground floor will consist of two separate spaces: a large, easy to access hall and a one-bedroom home with patio.