The Spronken House: an architecture-enhancing sculpture

H

idden among the hills of Castellón, the countryside of the Mediterranean coast of Valencia, a winding road twists and turns through an immense territory populated with almond and olive trees, interspersed, here and there, by tiny Mediaeval villages. Designed by the Dutch artist Xander Spronken, this surprising, atypical villa stands in the centre of a bewitching landscape.
Is it a sculpture? Not quite… A home? Not exactly... This Spanish retreat joins the two together, a union in which art enhances architecture and vice versa.

The structure of the villa is formed by fifty-three, six-metre-high columns that additionally frame the landscape. In the foreground, one of the small swimming pools built at either side of the villa.

The interiors and exteriors blend seamlessly as they are merely delineated by, practically imperceptible, large glass windows.

Left-hand side, several sculptures by the artist Xander Spronken. Right-hand side, the breakfast area/ kitchen is delineated by a progression of columns that continues outdoors.

An arrhythmic series of 53, 6-metre-high columns with a dry, monumental effect stands out against the landscape of the Iberian mountains. Here, concrete pillars support old wooden beams, previously the anchorage pylons of the port of Rotterdam. In part, they are sculpture-like freestanding structures that expand and delineate the space merely with their presence and in part, they are covered with bamboo canes that filter the light of the pergola that surrounds the villa. Distinctively visible, a further part is found in the double-heighted spaces, inside the house.

In the foreground, the kitchen island with a its large countertop and behind it, the swimming pool and the surrounding landscape of the Iberian mountains.

In the foreground, the breakfast area/ kitchen. In the background, the living room and the mezzanine floor with a double bed.

There appears to be a nonexistent separation between interiors and exteriors. Large windows, mounted on practically imperceptible frames, create a free-flowing space that without interruption, opens up to the surrounding landscape. The villa is composed by separate two units, the main house and the guest house, 160 and 150 sqm respectively. Each one has an open-plan kitchen and a living room area, on the double-heighted ground floor, two bedrooms with two bathrooms on the mezzanine floor and outdoors, a large pergola and a swimming pool. On the south-east side, the main house faces the mountains of the Penyagolosa Natural Park and opposite, the other unit faces the vastness of the olive groves.

Integrated under the structure of the columns, the mezzanine-floors in masonry serve as bedrooms and bathrooms.

The bedrooms and the bathrooms are open-plan spaces that offer a succession of extraordinary views.

Concrete, stone and clay are the main materials of the interiors, populated with works of art.

The overall combination of shapes in different sizes and surfaces in different materials creates sculptural effects in every space.

An irresistible sunset by the pool, overlooking the hills of the Penyagolosa Natural Park.

The Spronken House was designed with no half measures, a great project of a great artist. Open-plan and free-flowing, it’s integrated into the boundless landscape, claiming its individuality with archaic force. The monumental pillars that evoke the legendary colonnades of the Greek temples, transform it into a magical place, in which you feel part of the infinite universe that surrounds you.

Design project

Countryside villa
Location: Alcatén region (Castellón), Spain

Architecture and interior design project:
Xander Spronken and 
Architecture studio Sanahuja & Partners
www.sanahujapartners.com

Construction:
Obras y Construcciones Jesús Sales S.L.

Photos:
Courtesy Sanahuja & Partners
Credits Joan Guillamat