Case study — Residential
Casa Serra
Begur, Costa Brava · 2024
The living pavilion at dusk, seen from the lower garden. The deep eave shelters the terrace; the interior reads as a single lantern.
- Location
- Begur, Costa Brava
- Year
- 2024
- Type
- Residential
- Status
- Completed
- Area
- 340 m²
- Role
- Lead architect — concept to completion
- Client
- Private
- Photography
- Placeholder imagery
Casa Serra began with a single observation on site: the best hour of the day arrives from the west, low through the cork oaks, at the exact moment the family gathers. The plan is organised entirely around that hour. Living spaces open to a sheltered garden terrace; bedrooms turn away toward the quiet of the hillside.
The house is built from a small palette used honestly — board-marked concrete, blackened timber cladding, and pale lime render inside. Deep eaves and sliding screens temper the summer sun, while the section is shaped to draw winter light deep into the plan. There is no applied decoration; the material junctions are the detail.
A house should hold the day the way a bowl holds water — without effort, without spilling.
Passive strategies do the heavy lifting: cross-ventilation through the courtyard, high thermal mass, and a green roof over the garden wing. The result is a home that stays cool through August with barely any mechanical assistance, and warm through January with little more than the sun.
Completed in 2024, the house has settled quickly into its landscape. The blackened timber has begun to silver, the garden has grown over the property line, and the clients report that they now live, for most of the year, with every door open.
