Marbella Masterplan
This architectural project in Marbella came to us from a former client who trusted our team again to carry out this housing development.
Our client and friend acquired a large landsite on which he wanted to build several luxury single-family homes.
Surrounded by nature and spectacular views of the Andalusian coastline, his idea was to create a residential complex with every luxury detail.
These houses, located in Malaga’s town of Benahavís, aimed to have a private garden with swimming pools, sports and leisure facilities.
Likewise, the proposed interior architecture had to provide spacious and functional spaces, with the most appropriate decoration and lighting.
Today we bring to you an exclusive architectural project in Marbella; a proposal of 15 single-family homes that we made for the Andalusian coast, with unbeatable views of the mountains and the “Costa del Sol”.
In 2013 our technical architects in Marbella undertook a new interior design project. This business project, which represented a considerable step forward for our architecture and interior design studio, presented an ambitious proposal for single-family homes.
For Molins Design this architectural project in Marbella was a real turning point, which marked a new era for our studio.
Our outlook and perception changed completely, since we had never before worked on such a demanding and spectacular proposal. In fact, we had to adapt a new architecture and interior design that would fit perfectly with the 18,000 squared metres of land available for the execution of this project.
The first decision we took was the land topography’s modification, so that every plot could enjoy the fantastic sea views from their living room. In this way, we also managed to orientate each of these single-family homes of this wonderful and exclusive project towards the sun. To achieve this, we lowered all the plots in the front line by one metre and all the extracted soil allowed for the increase in height of the rear plots by one metre.
In addition, the unlevelled situation of the terrain made us come up with new accesses for the car parks of each house. In fact, we had to adapt the levels and free up the land destined for the garden, so we designed the access to the car park along the outer perimeter of the house, in favour of having the development’s main avenue vehicle-free.
The design of the houses was perfectly defined by two different typologies, determined by the location of the plots: on the one hand, those located on the first line and with sea views, in which the programme was resolved on the ground floor plus basement, and those on the second line, with basement and ground floor plus one upper level, thus designed to gain height and achieve the same views as those located on the previous part of the plot.
The design of the ground-floor houses was conceived with a marked outward orientation. The main axis of the house, articulated in the shape of an “L”, allowed the views of the garden to be defined.
The basement-and-two-floor houses, also oriented towards the swimming pool and sea views, were conceived in such a way that the quality of the dwelling was defined by the interior spaces of greater volume. In addition, the slopes of the exterior roofs were expressly played with.
For the visual treatment of the façades, we opted to continue with the local aesthetic, with the use of natural stone in combination with tiles on the sloping roofs and whitewashing on the wall cladding.
The effort made in terms of style was to try and refine the lines and finishes, adapting the proposal to a more modern context, which made us decide that roof tiles should be coplanar with the wall, not suspended, among other fundamental resolutions.
“A-TYPE” DWELLINGS
The Marbella Masterplan’s first house typology is located on a higher level, on the second line, which means that each home can also enjoy priceless views of the Mediterranean.
These are outward-facing buildings, in which the day and night areas are separated by a central axis. For these dwellings, we added an upper floor to achieve views above those located in the front part of the plot, so sea views could also be enjoyed.
Likewise to B-types, the basement has a service area, parking space and a leisure and cinema room.
“B-TYPE” DWELLINGS
These are located on the front line of the plot, with unbeatable views of the sea, and are planned on two levels, a ground floor plus basement.
Vehicle access for the owners was designed around the outer perimeter of the complex to free up the central space, leaving it for pedestrian use and sporadic access for services and visitors, with direct access to the basement of each home. This access was equipped with the optimum space for two or more cars, a gym and service rooms.
As for the design of the houses on the ground floor, we proposed a design that would make it possible for each space to live from the outside. The main axis of the house, articulated in an “L” shape, allowed us to define the views towards the garden.
The layout was designed through cardinal points, around which the different needs of the programme were developed, using the central axis and main access point as a division between the private and daytime areas.
This architectural project in Marbella was very much appreciated. With hindsight, we can say that it was the best of the three presented proposals.
However, sometimes, due to certain circumstances, in the architectural sector, the best project does not always win. Economic restrictions meant that the developer inclined for the least costing proposal, put forward by the more affordable construction company, despite the chosen project’s construction and integral management not considering the resolution of any of the most relevant aspects our ambitious proposal did.
Regardless of this unfavourable decision, we can proudly claim that our team of professionals devoted themselves completely to the development of this project, contributing with all necessary knowledge, experience and effort, in such a way that we managed to acquire a first-class learning experience, which has enabled us to take on other architectural projects of a similar nature in the future.
In the end, the conclusion we reached at Molins Design is that work, effort and time invested is always well spent, especially in big-scale projects, leaving our comfort zone, to grow even more as professionals in the interior design and architecture field.
