Architecture Wednesday: Rocafull House

There’s probably no better feeling than taking a 100-year-old abandoned building and turning it into a home.

The Rocafull House is in the Cabanyal neighborhood of Valencia, Spain, an old fisherman's village. As in most buildings from that time, and in that city, it is rectangular, narrow and deep, sitting right on the sidewalk with a nice patio in the back.

Better still, the developer retained the home’s original solid brick walls and wooden beams. Everything else was taken out, restructured rebuilt, leaving a massive open plan on the main floor, with bedrooms above.

In order to keep the house warm in winter, and cool in summer, there was a need for cross ventilation, through the front door and out to the back patio. A wooden mezzanine was built to create space upstairs for an additional bedroom, and to add a second-floor terrace that overlooks the back patio with an outdoor kitchen and shower.

The clients and architect chose to go old school in the remodel, using the traditions of clay walls, tile floors, and wooden ceilings, window casings, blinds and doors.

Great care was taken to recreate the house into an improved version of its original self. Hopefully it will last another hundred years …

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