Integral renovation at the Catalonian coast: an imperfect floor for a perfect pool
The studio CIRCULOCUADRADO puts our squared tiles around the patio pool at this renovated house
A Barcelonian studio has intelligently used one of our most versatile formats -in an risky but high rewarding shade- for one of our favorite functionalities: outdoor pools. The Cuadrado 15 covers all the surface around the pool and the patio that holds it.
This is an integral outdoors-indoors design project in which emotion, light and space flow have been prioritized over trends, giving a sophisticated, timeless and tremendously versatile home as a result.
Fired clay and pools: a love story
Fired clay is probably the ideal material for the use the studio CIRCULOCUADRADO has found for it on this project. The reason is double: aesthetic in one hand, functional in the other. Starting at the beginning: one doesn’t need to write a long dissertation on how well a traditional, handmade, Antique-textured terracotta floor looks next to just about any body of water. It just looks good. If, on top of it, there’s availability for a lighter shade -one that doesn’t have the aseptic, bright, OR-like white hues of artificial tints-, the result is even better.
We’ve seen it in other projects before: pools, ponds, jacuzzis… The result never disappoints. In this case, we have a small swimming pool in the back patio of the house. The projects that bet on the natural aging of the clay pieces next to pools, bet on an ideal integration, where the tiles will vary with the passage of time and will be visible proof of it.
The other part of the ecuation is functionality, based on the properties of the material. As we never tire to explain, fired clay has a number of properties that couldn’t be imitated. The mere configuration and treatment of the material allows for terracotta bricks to maintain a series of hydro-thermal conditions on its environment. That is why it’s the chosen material for bioclimatic architecture.
One square to rule them all
The Cuadrado 15 is one of our most versatile checkerboards. But, in this case, we believe there is a direct correlation between the choice of the format and its visual context. This patio could have admitted many other choices that would have been successfull, but it makes a lot of sense that the studio wanted the Cuadrado 15 in particular.
As we can see in the pictures, taken from the back of the patio, the vertical axis has a very steep straight lines. From the grated gallery to the metallic profile of the stairs, the eye finds ninety degree angles everywhere. However, the feel of the project is cozy, Mediterranean, creative. The installation of a white terracotta floor for a pool with checkerboard tiles resolves the problem of perfection (something that is perfect can’t be cozy, creative or spontaneous), but it doesn’t break the visual logic of the rest of the house. Bravo, CIRCULOCUADRADO.
