{"id":14613,"date":"2023-06-12T10:05:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T08:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.klicarquitectos.com\/?p=14613"},"modified":"2026-09-06T11:28:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T09:28:36","slug":"casa-caliza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.klicarquitectos.com\/en\/blog\/casa-caliza\/","title":{"rendered":"Casa Caliza \u00b7 Benalm\u00e1dena Pueblo"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 Benalm\u00e1dena Pueblo (M\u00e1laga), designed with a pool for a 601.16 m\u00b2 plot that had never been built on. Underneath the idea sits a very specific piece of arithmetic: of the 454.01 m\u00b2 of built floor area, only 179.48 m\u00b2 count towards the plot\u2019s permitted total (edificabilidad<\/em>). Everything that does not need daylight \u2014 the car and the plant \u2014 went below ground.<\/p>\n

The brief: an empty plot<\/h2>\n

Our client owned the plot and had never built on it: 601.16 m\u00b2 by topographic survey, on consolidated urban land under Benalm\u00e1dena\u2019s local plan (PGOU<\/em>), with drainage, water, electricity and telecoms already at the boundary. Nothing to service. All the effort could go into the house.<\/p>\n

The brief brings the living room, dining area and kitchen together in a single 51.60 m\u00b2 space, alongside three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and a 19.12 m\u00b2 sitting room and study. One bedroom is reached through a secondary hall with its own door from outside, set aside in the design memorandum for staff.<\/p>\n

Parking and plant go below ground: 110.95 m\u00b2 and 10.05 m\u00b2, with vehicle access straight off the street. That is 171.22 m\u00b2 of floor area which does not count towards the permitted total. The arithmetic ends at 454.01 m\u00b2 built, 179.48 m\u00b2 counting, and a footprint of 149.64 m\u00b2 on a 601.16 m\u00b2 plot.<\/p>\n

A comb-shaped plan<\/h2>\n

The plan is a comb: three projecting wings tied together by pergolas that give the composition a single reading. The geometry does work rather than gestures. It turns the openings to the south-east to secure the views, and it keeps the parts of the house apart according to what each is for. The living level sits above street level and is reached by external steps.<\/p>\n

The governing idea was to dissolve the line between inside and out. The pergolas do not stop at the fa\u00e7ade; they carry on indoors, and the external paving runs in alongside them. The design memorandum names the style \u2018Boho Mediterr\u00e1neo\u2019: local materials, simple geometry, nothing more.<\/p>\n

Outdoor space carries as much weight as indoor. Two entrance halls and two porches at arrival level; above, a third porch of 13.81 m\u00b2 and terraces of 33.82 m\u00b2 and 7.25 m\u00b2. The pool adds a 29.88 m\u00b2 water surface.<\/p>\n

Materials and construction<\/h2>\n

The envelope tells the lived-in volumes apart. The ones holding the living room and the bedrooms are clad in natural stone with close butt joints and no visible mortar \u2014 the stone the house is named after. The rest of the elevation stays white.<\/p>\n

The wall build-up is deliberately ordinary: a half-brick outer leaf, a cavity with sprayed insulation and an inner leaf of hollow brick. Frames are anodised aluminium in anthracite, with 4-12-6+6 mm low-emissivity safety double glazing and a dehydrated cavity. Ash for the front door and for the pergolas, the latter in 30\u00d77 cm sections fixed to the slab. On the terraces, one-brick parapets and non-climbable balustrades with glass infill. Inside, porcelain stoneware beside the glazing, laminate elsewhere and a polished industrial floor in the garage.<\/p>\n

Structure is reinforced concrete: columns and waffle slabs with solid capitals, a raft foundation and retaining walls at the lower level. One caveat, and it matters. At this stage no ground investigation had been carried out, so the foundation is a working assumption and the design memorandum says so in plain terms: the solution may change once the geotechnical results are in. We put that in writing rather than let it read as settled.<\/p>\n

Where the project stands<\/h2>\n

The commission was for a planning-stage design (proyecto b\u00e1sico<\/em>): that is what was drawn up and what was submitted to Benalm\u00e1dena town hall. That is where the record ends: a planning-stage design submitted for planning permission (licencia de obras<\/em>), with no works on site. We would rather publish it at the stage it actually reached than present a project as a finished house.<\/p>\n

Gallery<\/h2>\n
\n
\"Terrace<\/figure>\n
\"Outdoor<\/figure>\n
\"Side<\/figure>\n
\"Outdoor<\/figure>\n
\"Pool<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Project data<\/h2>\n