A comb-shaped plan, ash pergolas that carry on inside the house, and natural stone laid with close joints on the volumes people live in. Casa Caliza is a detached house in Benalmádena Pueblo (Málaga), designed with a pool for a 601.16 m² plot that had never been built on. Underneath the idea sits a very specific piece of arithmetic: of the 454.01 m² of built floor area, only 179.48 m² count towards the plot’s permitted floor area (edificabilidad). Everything that does not need daylight — the car and the building services — went below ground.
The brief: an empty plot
The commission came from the owner of a plot that had never been built on: 601.16 m² according to the topographic survey. It is consolidated urban land under Benalmádena’s general plan (PGOU), with drainage, water, electricity and telecoms already at the gate. No infrastructure works needed. All the effort could go into the house.
The programme brings the living room, dining room and kitchen together in a single space of 51.60 m² usable floor area, alongside three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and a 19.12 m² sitting room and study. One of the bedrooms is served by a secondary hallway with its own independent access from outside, set aside in the project report for household staff.
Parking and the plant room go below ground: 110.95 m² and 10.05 m² of usable floor area, with vehicle access straight off the street. That is 171.22 m² of built area that does not count towards permitted floor area. The final figures: 454.01 m² built, 179.48 m² counting towards permitted floor area and a 149.64 m² footprint on the 601.16 m² plot.
The proposal: a comb-shaped plan and pergolas
The plan is shaped like a comb, with three projecting wings tied together by pergolas that give the whole a sense of unity. The geometry is not a formal gesture: it secures the views to the south-east and keeps the different parts of the house apart according to their use. The living level is reached by external steps, as it sits raised above the street.
The governing idea was to dissolve the line between inside and out. The pergolas do not stop at the façade; they carry on inside the house, and the external paving runs in alongside them. The project report describes the style as ‘Boho Mediterráneo’: local materials and simple geometry, nothing more.
Outdoor space carries as much weight as indoor. Two entrance halls and two porches at arrival level; above, a third porch of 13.81 m² and terraces of 33.82 m² and 7.25 m². The pool adds a 29.88 m² water surface.
Materials and construction
The envelope singles out the spaces that are lived in. The volumes holding the living room and the bedrooms are clad in natural stone laid with tight butt joints and no visible mortar: it is the stone that gives the house its name. The rest of the façade stays white.
The wall build-up makes no attempt to show off: a half-brick outer leaf of perforated brick, a cavity with sprayed thermal insulation and an inner leaf of double hollow brick. Window frames are anodised aluminium in anthracite, with 4-12-6+6 mm low-emissivity safety double glazing and a dehydrated air cavity. The front door and the pergolas are in ash; the pergolas are made of 30×7 cm sections fixed to the slab. On the terraces, one-brick parapets in solid brick and non-climbable balustrades with glass infill panels. Inside, porcelain stoneware beside the glazing, laminate elsewhere and a polished industrial floor in the garage.
The structure is reinforced concrete: columns and waffle slabs with solid capitals, a raft foundation and retaining walls on the below-ground level. And here comes a caveat. At the basic design stage no geotechnical survey had been carried out, so the foundation is put forward as a working assumption, and the project report itself warns that the solution may change once the results come in. We would rather put that in writing than treat as settled something that depends on the ground.
Where the project stands
The commission was for a basic design (proyecto básico): that is what was drawn up and submitted to Benalmádena Town Hall. And that is as far as the record goes: basic design completed, submitted for a building permit (licencia de obras) and no work carried out on site. We would rather publish it at the stage it has actually reached than present as built what is still a design.
Gallery
Project data
- Typology: Detached single-family house with pool
- Use: Residential
- Location: Benalmádena Pueblo, Benalmádena (Málaga)
- Design year: 2023
- Status: Basic design commission, submitted for a building permit
- Plot area: 601.16 m² (topographic survey)
- Built area: 454.01 m² (282.79 m² above ground and 171.22 m² below ground); 179.48 m² counting towards permitted floor area and a 149.64 m² footprint
- Units: One single-family house and a pool (29.88 m² water surface)
- Client: Private client
- Structure: Reinforced concrete columns and waffle slabs with solid capitals; raft foundation and retaining walls, proposed as an assumption pending the geotechnical survey
- Klic services: Concept design, basic design (proyecto básico) and submission for the municipal building permit
- Team: Juan Alejandro Goñi Uriarte (architect, COA Málaga reg. 1206) and Ruth Buján Varela (architect, COA Málaga reg. 1333)
Other projects by Klic Arquitectos
- Casa Maravillas — single-family house in Benalmádena Costa (Málaga).
- Casa Leala — single-family house in Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmádena (Málaga).
- Casa Olivia — single-family house in Benalmádena (Málaga).
