South means extreme heat on the Costa Brava in summer time. So protecting the inside spaces from the sunlight, and preventing people from cooking inside becomes mandatory. And, last but not least, the whole family should live on one same level, without that meaning a too large floorplan.
Having an anyway a large floorplan would mean finishing off all sqm footprint allowed by council´s regulation. This would leave no roof area available for the porche needed to provide shade over the more than 32 meter long south facade.
Given the circumstances, the only possible solution was to create a set of pivoting shutters that created the idea of a wooden courtain when down (adding a security factor here), but are indeed a massive, pillarless porch. When deployed, shutters only let stripes of sunrays inside, dramatically reducing indoor heating contribution. The trick: it´s a window shutter, not a porch, thus, no sqm accounted ;-)))
We haven´t talked about the north facade. In order to make client forget the beautiful views from the family´s former home, MAGNA DOMUS has a one-only window looking over the sea… A 12 meter long window in four sliding sections. Sliding and disappearing completely, they turn the whole living area into an outdoor space, intimately connecting beautiful Costa Brava and our recently born child. We cannot hide our pride in what we have achieved here. Anyway, should we?