Efficiency with style

Holder; private
Year; 2017
 

Renovation Chalet CIM  a la Massana

 

• Architect: Pau Iglesias

• Engineering:  Javier Jiménez Tierno

 

Construction company: LLESUI Constructions

 

Description

An existing villa with its own style. Owners in love with this style. A reform project challenge that must preserve the chalet's own style, with new materials, new technologies and high energy efficiency.

This is the starting point for the reform of a single-family villa on the Beixalís road. Externally, the existing volume is maintained, only increased by the thicknesses of compact rock wool (thermal insulation) and by the surface finishes. Finishes that combine 3 materials; country stone, slate and synthetic wood. The last two, light and majority in the composition of the facade, placed with a ventilated facade system, in order not to overload the existing structure.

The external access door to the plot reminds us with the slope of the lines that generate it the slope of the roof. In the middle, and in negative the name of the house, CIM.

Inside,   the first major change made is the modification of the stairs. The house initially did not communicate the basement parking floor with the ground floor of the house, which meant having to go through the outside of the house to get from one point to the other. This new staircase is generated, and extends to the first floor. Its location on the ground floor makes use of a space that, due to the slopes and heights of the roof, could not be used for another use.

The structure of the house remains (with the exception of the modifications and reinforcements made by the staircase). The wooden beams of the roof are also kept. It is only modified by the opening of two large roof windows designed to give more light to the living room, which by extension also improves the dressing area of the lower floor.

The wood of the roof had a reddish tint. A sandblasting treatment has been applied to the wood in order to achieve its original color, and to give it a texture that highlights the grain of the beams.

The wooden beams are separated by a transdosing of plasterboard painted white with a double purpose; aesthetic giving more light to the cover, and energy efficient since it hides a new layer of thermal insulation on the inner face of the cover.

The lighting of the entire area that has an exposed roof is done with LED strips recast in the plaster, so that when they are off they are hidden from view, and do not reduce the strength of the roof.

Functionally, the living room is located in the highest part of the house, a double-height space that is created where there is no loft where the master bedroom is located. In the house as a whole, some windows have been modified, but the most significant is the main window in the living room, which has not only been enlarged, but also a new upper trapezoidal opening has been created, which must be used for contemplate in the distance the CIM of Andorra, the peak of Comapedrosa.

The kitchen is also located on that ground floor, a semi-open space towards the living room, where the connecting point is a fireplace that pivots between the living room and the kitchen and is visible from both spaces. Also on the ground floor we find a courtesy bathroom, as well as a guest bedroom. These last two elements are hidden in a wood-lined wall, where you can't even see the door handle that gives access to these two rooms.

The mezzanine floor is a semi-open space towards the living room where there is a large dressing room, the bedroom and the main bathroom of the house. All spaces are open with the exception of the bedroom, and partially some elements of the bathroom.

Both the wardrobes and some walls and the false ceiling of some of the bathroom elements do not reach the ceiling, so they always allow you to always see the wooden finish of the roof beams.

The entire space on the mezzanine floor looks over the living area on the ground floor. To make this visual communication as wide as possible, glass railings have been used.

On the basement floor we find the car park, which, as already mentioned, now communicates internally and directly with the lower plata. In order to expand the capacity of the car park, a new car park door has been made, so that two vehicles can access the car park independently. A storage room and the building's technical room are also located in this basement floor.

The comprehensive reform of the house has taken part in the RENOVA Plan, aid program for the improvement of the national real estate stock, the improvement of the energy efficiency of the buildings and the use of renewable energies.

At the level of safety improvement, a lifeline has been installed on the deck.

At the level of improving energy efficiency in existing buildings, the thermal behavior of the building's envelope has been improved, reaching the energy label B, thereby accessing a subsidy of 25% of the cost of energy improvement. To achieve such a high value of efficiency, it was not enough to significantly strengthen the insulation of the house. It was also necessary to improve its air tightness, and to carry out the ventilation of the house, mechanically with a heat exchanger that takes advantage of the heat of the "contaminated" air that is expelled, to reinject it with the "clean" air that we inject into the house from the outside.

At the level of the use of renewable energy, the air conditioning of the house is carried out by means of aerothermic energy utilization equipment, which improves the performance of the electrical KWs consumed.