180 House | Vlad Zakirov

This is a home improvement project near Valencia for a family with two small children. The buyers were attracted to the house for its location and a land lot on the top of the slope with amazing views in the first place.

We divided work into two fronts: the external and the internal. On the external front, we worked on the façade in order to give the house a fresh look and integrate it into the general style direction. We also rebuilt the pool basin and worked on the landscape.

On the internal front, we dealt with the remodeling of the available space with further decoration to make the house meet the needs and requirements of new owners. In a separate block technical works on a home automation system (such as connecting to the «smart house» system, central air conditioning, improving energy efficiency etc.) were carried out.

In order to maximize the benefits of the object, namely, the panoramic view and the climate zone, we added new window openings, enlarged the existing ones and completed new terraces. And in order to compensate for the negative effect of excessive insolation in the summer, we used lamella blinds with a variable angle of inclination and automatic awnings.

On the ground floor we allocated a common living area, consisting of a living room, a children's playroom, a kitchen, a dining room, a music corner and a guest room, located as far apart as possible.

We tried to make the living area as open as possible, removing part of the walls and widening the doorways. In this way, we managed to provide direct access to the main terrace and the pool. We glazed the terrace adjacent to the kitchen and turned it into a dining area with the panoramic lift-slide windows. A musical corner was organized on the site of the old dining room, where we tried to recreate the atmosphere of a chamber hall. It was agreed to keep the wood stove, covering it in the kitchen furniture. In the kitchen furniture there is a hidden door leading to the laundry room. The children's game room was placed in such a way that it could be clearly seen from the kitchen and the living room. While maintaining a clear visual separation of each zone, we tried to create a space where everyone feels involved in the home life and is not cut off from the rest of the family by walls and corridors. We made a new doorway in the guest room, providing access to the main terrace.

We allocated a sleeping area, consisting of a main bedroom and two children's rooms on the first floor. We were not satisfied with the initial floor space of the bedrooms, neither with the number of factors affecting comfort, such as the lack of a dressing room and a private bathroom in the main bedroom, visibility, and insolation. We tried to make each room special, so it will advantageously stand out from a rectangle with a window. Since there was no need for four bedrooms, we decided to combine two rooms into one, and in such a way we expanded the floor space and added a dressing room. We turned the bay window roof, adjacent to the outer wall of the main bedroom, into a terrace by providing access through an extended and displaced window opening. Additionally, we made two other window openings oriented to the sides of lights. Also, one of the two bathrooms on the floor was attached to the main room.

We made the corridor shorter, attached the dressing room and the terrace to one of the children's rooms, and dismantled a built-in wardrobe. And in this way, we increased the usable space. We cut out a window opening in the dressing room.

On the attic floor the partitions were dismantled, so we converted it into a spacious office. We also cut out a new window opening with a view of Valencia.

We decided to create a light-color interior and made great use of glass, wood, and metal. White walls and a light brown floor, which reflects and scatters the sun's rays, fill the space with a light gradient, creating coziness. Light gray bathrooms with stone and concrete texture are designed to evoke freshness and naturalness. The lamp in the form of drops above the dining table reflects the water of the pool and, thus, is a connecting element of the residential and recreational area, as if recalling the proximity of the sea coast. We wanted to create an interior that would shroud in like a cocoon, flow from room to room, from zone to zone. Without sharp defiant elements but with its own style.

We equipped the battery room and installed solar panels on the roof in order to increase the energy efficiency of the house. We also reorganized the central heating system and installed central air conditioning. Awnings and lamella blinds with a variable angle of inclination were connected to an external weather station. We set up autonomous work of the above listed elements through the “smart home” system.