{"id":2233,"date":"2021-05-29T15:26:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T13:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.klicarquitectos.com\/monte-alto\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T09:03:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T07:03:22","slug":"monte-alto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.klicarquitectos.com\/en\/blog\/monte-alto\/","title":{"rendered":"Casa Chai \u00b7 Renovation with interior design \u00b7 Monte Alto \u00b7 Benalm\u00e1dena"},"content":{"rendered":"

A single-storey house on the Monte Alto hillside, the sea in the distance and the main room turned, at last, towards the garden. Casa Chai is a renovation with interior design in Benalm\u00e1dena that starts from a very familiar problem: the house arrived heavily compartmentalised, with the living room split into two spaces of 9.64 and 14.16 m\u00b2 and a 6.34 m\u00b2 kitchen. The commission, from January 2020, asked for all three things together: managing the building permit, the construction project with CGIs, and construction supervision.<\/p>\n

The commission: permit, project and construction supervision<\/h2>\n

Monte Alto is one of Benalm\u00e1dena\u2019s established residential urbanisations, set into the hillside between the old village and Arroyo de la Miel: sloping plots, Mediterranean planting, the sea in the distance. The house is a single-storey detached home of roughly 116 m\u00b2, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We have worked on both sides of the municipality \u2014 Casa Caliza<\/a> in Benalm\u00e1dena Pueblo, Casa Leala<\/a> in Arroyo de la Miel \u2014 and the starting point tends to repeat itself: enough floor area, cut into rooms that are too small.<\/p>\n

The fee proposal was signed on 21 January 2020 and covered three pieces of work: managing the building permit (licencia de obra<\/em>), including the site survey, the measured drawings of the existing house and processing the application with the Town Hall; the construction project with CGIs; and construction supervision. The project was to be delivered within two weeks of the client approving the design, and construction supervision was agreed at one site visit a week for as long as the works lasted. The first set of drawings is dated the following day.<\/p>\n

Opening up the plan meant touching the structure<\/h2>\n

Joining the living room, dining area and kitchen was not a question of knocking down partitions. The February 2020 bill of quantities lists the installation and removal of temporary propping to the horizontal slab over the porch and living room, and the demolition of a reinforced concrete strip footing. In other words, what divided those rooms was carrying load: to take it out, you hold the slab up while the support is replaced. The structure was resolved within the project itself, with the foundations and slab drawn by the studio. On a small renovation, that is the difference between deciding on paper and deciding on site with the props already up.<\/p>\n

The figures from the revised layout: living room 25.65 m\u00b2, dining area 10.90 m\u00b2 and kitchen 10.80 m\u00b2, compared with the existing layout\u2019s living room split into 9.64 and 14.16 m\u00b2 and its 6.34 m\u00b2 kitchen. The main bedroom comes to 14.80 m\u00b2. Turning the principal room towards the view and the garden is the same move we repeat on our coastal renovations, such as Casa Al Mar<\/a>, right on the beachfront.<\/p>\n

Materials, building services and interior design<\/h2>\n

The interior design was part of the same commission rather than a later phase: a natural palette of whites, timbers and stone, contemporary furniture and made-to-measure pieces in the kitchen and bathrooms. Four CGIs were delivered \u2014 living-dining-kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and an exterior view \u2014 each with one round of revisions. They are there to settle finishes before they are bought, not after.<\/p>\n

The parts you cannot see matter just as much. The bill of quantities includes internal thermal insulation to the fa\u00e7ade and acoustic insulation, a 150-litre electric water heater and pre-installation for solar panels. Insulating from the inside takes a few centimetres off the room; in exchange you never touch the fa\u00e7ade and you need no scaffolding. And completing the solar pre-installation now saves opening up the ceilings again later. You can see how we approach this kind of work on our renovations page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From drawings to site<\/h2>\n

On 25 February 2020 we delivered the drawings together with a blind bill of quantities: every item measured, so that several building contractors tender on exactly the same scope and the client compares figures that measure the same thing. Whoever is going to build the job is the one who prices it; the studio sets the scope, not the number.<\/p>\n

A second round of CGIs followed on 3 March and a drawing revision on 22 April 2020, with the design already finalised. Construction supervision was contracted at one site visit a week: often enough to correct things in time, without turning the job into a standing meeting.<\/p>\n

There is more of our work in the municipality if you want to compare: Casa Maravillas<\/a> in Benalm\u00e1dena Costa and Edificio Terra in Santangelo<\/a>. And if your house has the same problem \u2014 plenty of floor area, badly divided \u2014 the first step is to find out what lies behind the partitions before anything is drawn. Get in touch with the studio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gallery<\/h2>\n
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Project data<\/h2>\n
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  • Typology:<\/strong> Full renovation with interior design of a detached house<\/li>\n
  • Use:<\/strong> Residential \u00b7 detached house<\/li>\n
  • Location:<\/strong> Monte Alto \u00b7 Benalm\u00e1dena \u00b7 M\u00e1laga<\/li>\n
  • Design year:<\/strong> 2020<\/li>\n
  • Status:<\/strong> Project delivered in February 2020<\/li>\n
  • Floor area:<\/strong> Approx. 116 m\u00b2, as stated in the commission<\/li>\n
  • Units:<\/strong> 1 home<\/li>\n
  • Programme:<\/strong> Living room 25.65 m\u00b2, dining room 10.90 m\u00b2, kitchen-breakfast room 10.80 m\u00b2, three bedrooms (main bedroom 14.80 m\u00b2), two bathrooms, entrance hall, inner hall, corridor and indoor-garden connection. Usable floor areas of the revised layout<\/li>\n
  • Client:<\/strong> Private client<\/li>\n
  • Architecture studio:<\/strong> Klic Arquitectos \u00b7 M\u00e1laga<\/li>\n
  • Structure:<\/strong> Klic Arquitectos: foundations and slab drawn within the project itself<\/li>\n
  • Building services engineering:<\/strong> Klic Arquitectos: domestic hot water calculations and water supply sizing<\/li>\n
  • Interior design:<\/strong> Klic Arquitectos<\/li>\n
  • CGIs:<\/strong> Klic Arquitectos<\/li>\n
  • Klic services:<\/strong> Building permit management, construction project with CGIs and construction supervision, with one site visit a week<\/li>\n
  • Team:<\/strong> Juan A. Go\u00f1i Uriarte (COA M\u00e1laga reg. no. 1206) and Ruth Buj\u00e1n Varela (COA M\u00e1laga reg. no. 1333)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n