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Casa CB

Street façade of Casa CB in Sabadell, rendered wall with brick base and coping, garage and lit windows at dusk.

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Casa CB

The project consists of a rehabilitation of an old house located in the center of Sabadell with only one open facade and problems of humidity and insufficient sunlight. Our solution was to execute a single action: the displacement of the existing courtyard to the center of the house. By creating a central bioclimatic space, we not only solved the pre-existing insalubrity, but also created optimal conditions to enjoy a house protected from the noise and frenetic pace of the city.

Central bioclimatic brick courtyard with a sloping glass skylight, timber doors and terracotta tile flooring.
View from a room toward the central courtyard through glazed timber doors, brick walls and terracotta floor.
House interior with a white brick partition, timber ceiling and a timber kitchen beyond on a concrete floor.Living-dining room with timber ceiling, a plywood shelf and white-painted brick walls.Kitchen-diner of Casa CB with white brick walls, timber ceiling, timber cabinetry and access to the courtyard.

Atypically, the house occupies the courtyard of one of the plots, with a street frontage of only 8 meters. The existing house has only one façade and its 3 party walls border the courtyards and garages of the neighboring buildings. In terms of regulations, the 90 m² house can only be developed on the first floor. On the other hand, capillary dampness and the lack of light and ventilation made the house an unhealthy habitat. The new central courtyard increases its dimensions and becomes the space that organizes the rest of the rooms. At the same time, it provides light, air, radiation and ventilation through its glazed roof.

Axonometric diagrams of the design process: shifting the courtyard to the centre of the house and the bioclimatic strategy.Floor plan of Casa CB with the central courtyard and rooms arranged around it on a party-wall plot.Roof plan of Casa CB showing the central courtyard skylight and the furnished terrace.Bioclimatic section showing summer and winter solar protection and cross-ventilation through the central courtyard.

Thanks to this passive strategy, we control the interior temperature of the house, maintaining an annual demand of 19 kW/m² per year while increasing the potential use of the central courtyard. In winter, it is used as an interior space that stores energy thanks to solar radiation and the thermal inertia of the walls, and in summer, it is transformed into a new outdoor terrace.

Corner of a children's room with brick walls, timber corner doors and terracotta tile flooring.
Bedroom with a skylight cut into the timber ceiling, white-painted brick wall and a timber bunk bed.
Rear exterior of Casa CB with the central courtyard's glass skylight over the volume and a brick-paved terrace.

The project incorporates bioclimatic strategies such as the greenhouse courtyard, the increase of thermal inertia from ceramic walls and controlled cross ventilation. On the other hand, to reduce the ecological footprint, wood has been used as the main element in the roof, windows and interior cladding, cellulose insulation and local bricks fired with biomass.

Project
Casa CB
Year
2022
Location
Sabadell
Programme
Single-family house
Área
104 m2
Authors
Marc Alventosa, Xavier Morell
Team
Diagonal Arquitectura (structure), Iñaki Gonzalez (technical architect)
Photographer
Adrià Goula
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Casa CB a Sabadell | Rehabilitació bioclimàtica | Alventosa Morell Arquitectes