{"id":15201,"date":"2021-06-05T14:52:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-05T12:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.klicarquitectos.com\/single-family-house-proposal-la-cala-de-mijas\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T03:56:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T01:56:48","slug":"single-family-house-proposal-la-cala-de-mijas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.klicarquitectos.com\/en\/blog\/single-family-house-proposal-la-cala-de-mijas\/","title":{"rendered":"Single-family house proposal in La Cala de Mijas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A white house with a great deal of glass, over a quarter of its built area in shade and half the plot left alone. A private client came to us with the notes for the house already written, and one rule inside them: they would rather do without square metres than without quality. The scheme design for this single-family house in La Cala de Mijas (M\u00e1laga) \u2014 485.38 m\u00b2 of built area on a 1,797 m\u00b2 plot \u2014 was drawn around that line. The job was not to fill the plot, but to decide what stayed out of it.<\/p>\n

The brief: a set of handwritten notes<\/h2>\n

The background documentation on the plot was gathered on 13 March 2020, and the scheme design was dated May. Between those two dates one document governs: the written notes of the client, a private individual building their own home. They asked for a modern look, mostly white with a few elements to break it up, plenty of glass and as much daylight as possible. And they set down in writing the premise that orders everything else: \u201cit is better to do without square metres than without quality or features that bring comfort\u201d.<\/p>\n

A brief like that saves a good deal of arguing. It caps the programme before anyone draws a line and leaves room for the things you touch every day. We worked from the Mijas local plan sheets on building lines, land-use classification and general structure (the PGOU<\/em>), the sector planning documents, the topographical survey and the cadastral record (Catastro<\/em>): 1,797 m\u00b2, recorded at the time as undeveloped land.<\/p>\n

The house, floor by floor<\/h2>\n

The house sits on two storeys above ground, with a basement and a small enclosure giving access to the roof terrace. Enclosed floor area: 138.79 m\u00b2 on the ground floor, 112.55 m\u00b2 on the first, 86.50 m\u00b2 of basement and 13.91 m\u00b2 of roof access \u2014 351.74 m\u00b2 in all. Add the covered but unenclosed space \u2014 porches, gallery, carport and terraces \u2014 and it comes to 485.38 m\u00b2 of built area, 268.30 m\u00b2 of it usable.<\/p>\n

The ground floor holds the daytime rooms \u2014 entrance hall, a 24.05 m\u00b2 living room, a 24.48 m\u00b2 kitchen-dining room \u2014 plus the things the brief asked for and most plans squeeze: a 13.60 m\u00b2 study, a larder, a laundry and a store. Upstairs, three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom; the main one 16.51 m\u00b2 with a dressing room. The lift does not end at the first floor: it carries on up to the roof terrace, as the notes asked.<\/p>\n

The basement the client did not want<\/h2>\n

On this the notes were explicit: better to avoid a basement and, in any case, keep the garage at ground level so water never becomes a problem. But with the full programme on the table, dropping the basement altogether meant spreading the house sideways and eating into the part of the plot the layout keeps for the daytime rooms and the pool.<\/p>\n

The decision was to pare it back to a workable minimum: 86.50 m\u00b2 holding a 36.49 m\u00b2 garage, a store, a lobby, the lift and a 19.44 m\u00b2 plant room. Not one habitable room below ground. The basement stops being an extra floor and goes back to being what it is: the place for the car and the machinery.<\/p>\n

Shade, water and half a plot left alone<\/h2>\n

The area schedule describes this house better than the renders do. Of the 1,797 m\u00b2 plot, 888.99 m\u00b2 are left in their natural state; 570.26 m\u00b2 are hard landscaping, 41.23 m\u00b2 lawn or planting, and there are 239.95 m\u00b2 of masonry retaining wall. The pool has a 59.40 m\u00b2 tank and a 70.13 m\u00b2 water surface. Porches, gallery, covered carport and terraces come to 133.64 m\u00b2 \u2014 over a quarter of the built area has no fa\u00e7ade at all, only shade. On this coast, that is the design.<\/p>\n

Two complete versions of the scheme were delivered, the first and a revised 2.0, each with drawings, an area schedule and renders. That is where it stopped: it was never stamped by the College of Architects (visado<\/em>), never got a building permit (licencia<\/em>) and never reached site. We produced the renders and the video in-house, and today they are all that remains of the house.<\/p>\n

Gallery<\/h2>\n
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\"Main<\/figure>\n
\"Volumetric<\/figure>\n
\"Terrace<\/figure>\n
\"Night<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Project data<\/h2>\n