Logo Alventosa Morell Arquitectes

Casa GJ

Brick façade of Casa GJ in Matadepera, with a cane-shaded porch, timber-and-glass doors and a terrace beneath the oaks.

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Casa GJ

A young couple had the opportunity to build their first home on a plot that was once part of a larger family-owned property. Our design proposal is based on a modular plan that responds to the surroundings, ensuring privacy, excellent climate control, and dynamic living spaces.

Brick exterior seen from the garden, its raised clerestory volume bringing daylight and cross-ventilation.
Double-height living space with brick walls, concrete floor, wood stove and louvered clerestory windows for cross-ventilation.

Matadepera is a quiet suburban town at the foot of the mountains in Catalonia. The 600m² corner plot was flat, south-facing, and dotted with a few trees, with two detached houses on either side. The clients wanted a home with shared spaces but without giving up privacy, as well as being flexible enough to adapt to future needs.

Site plan of Casa GJ, its cross-shaped modular footprint highlighted among the neighbouring plots.Floor plan showing the cross-shaped modular layout and furniture, surrounded by garden.Detailed floor plan of the modular house, with rooms arranged around the central core.Cross section showing the rooms and the raised clerestory volume that drives ventilation.Longitudinal section of Casa GJ with human figures and the central clerestory lighting the spaces.

With this in mind, we designed the house as nine identical structural modules arranged along a staggered east-west axis, maintaining the existent trees. This strategy allowed us to maximise the number of south-facing rooms and maintain privacy from neighbouring buildings.

Dining area with brick walls, plywood vaulted ceiling on red steel beams and a polished concrete floor.
Brick interior with plywood sliding doors and a passage to a white-tiled bathroom.
Kitchen with plywood cabinetry, brick walls and a vaulted ceiling lit by glass doors on both sides.Double-height living room with wood stove, brick and concrete walls and louvered clerestory windows for cross-ventilation.Brick room with white shelves and a timber-framed window framing the garden tree, where a dog rests.Bedroom with brick walls, a plywood sliding wardrobe and a vaulted ceiling on red beams.

The modules' flexibility and multiple connections enable the house to function as a single open space or separate areas. The staggered layout enhances visual relationships in all directions, creating a sense of spaciousness and a strong connection to the garden. At the heart of the house, the central module rises above the rest to increase solar gain in winter and improve cross-ventilation in summer.

Courtyard of Casa GJ with a cane-shaded canopy, open timber-and-glass doors and a dog lying on the concrete paving.
Detail of the ceramic vaults on red steel beams and the brick walls, with a monstera in the foreground.

The construction is simple, with load-bearing brick walls, concrete paving, and vaulted ceilings. Our goal was to create a building with a high thermal mass, which, combined with high solar gain in winter and good ventilation in summer, ensures optimal thermal comfort throughout the year. The house is connected to the garden through the plant pergolas, which repeat the structural grid, creating outdoor spaces that function as climatic refuges and encourage the family's interaction with the surrounding nature.

Project
Casa GJ
Year
2024
Location
Matadepera
Programa
Single-family house
Surface
143 m2
Authors
Marc Alventosa, Xavier Morell
Team
Diagonal Arquitectura (structure), Iñaki Gonzalez (technical architect)
Photographer
José Hevia
Awards
Finalist in the Casa de La Arquitectura Awards 2025
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