Spa in Costa de Maresme
Location: Maresme, Spain. GFA: 2,500 sqm.
Architectural concept
terracotta pantile roofing
The Cordillera Litoral rises behind this villa in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres like a green amphitheatre, framing the Mediterranean horizon and holding the property in a rare equilibrium of mountain and sea. Our studio was drawn to this duality from the very first site visit - the client, a person of refined sensibility and deep attachment to the Catalan coast, wished for a residence that would feel simultaneously rooted in the landscape and weightless against it. The result is a composition of whitewashed volumes under terracotta pantile roofing, their warm geometry dissolving into cascading subtropical gardens as naturally as the shoreline dissolves into sky.
Spatial organisation
Distributed across three interconnected levels served by a private lift, the 2,500 sqm are organised around a single governing logic - every principal living space orients southward toward the sea. The main floor opens through full-height thermally broken aluminium sliding glazing onto a generous south-facing terrace, allowing the salon of 120 sqm and the adjoining dining and kitchen zones to breathe as one continuous landscape room. The lower garden level - housing the spa water circuit, sauna suite, massage room, and a large multipurpose hall - opens completely to the garden through retractable glazed walls, so that the boundary between inside and outside becomes a matter of choice rather than architecture. Upper-level suites each claim a private terrace with uninterrupted views, offering the silence that true exclusivity always requires.
Materials and climate
hydraulic encaustic cement tile
Our studio selected materials that carry the memory of the Catalan littoral within their texture. The facades are finished in mineral lime render - bright, breathable, and historically suited to Mediterranean humidity. Interior floors and terraces employ hydraulic encaustic cement tile in restrained natural tones, a tradition present in Catalan domestic architecture for over a century. Stone detailing references Montjuic sandstone, its warm golden register echoing both the local geology and the amber light of the Maresme evenings. Structural joinery is executed in local chestnut timber, chosen for its resistance to coastal moisture and its ability to age gracefully without chemical treatment.
Bioclimatic strategy
The Maresme microclimate delivers nine months of outdoor living from March through November, with summer temperatures moderated by reliable sea breezes from the southeast. Our studio oriented the primary glazed facades precisely along this prevailing wind axis, enabling cross-ventilation passive cooling through the depth of each floor plate without mechanical assistance during transitional seasons. Deep roof overhangs and horizontal brise-soleil elements on the upper level intercept high-angle summer sun while admitting low winter light into the living spaces. The planted green roof over the lower-level volumes adds thermal mass, retains rainwater, and reduces the urban heat island effect on the terrace surfaces directly above.
Energy and sustainability
LEED Platinum certification
The project targets LEED Platinum certification, integrating a rooftop photovoltaic array sized to cover base-load consumption across all seasons. An aerothermal heat pump system handles heating, cooling, and domestic hot water with a coefficient of performance that substantially reduces carbon intensity relative to conventional gas infrastructure. Rainwater harvesting feeds the irrigation network and the bio-pool filtration loop, eliminating the need for chemical treatment entirely. All insulation specifications exceed the requirements of the Spanish Technical Building Code CTE-HE by a minimum of 30 percent, ensuring envelope performance commensurate with the ambition of the project.
Landscape
The garden is perhaps the most eloquent argument for this site. Our studio worked with a Mediterranean coastal planting palette - mature Canary Island palms, columnar cereus cactus, bougainvillea, jasmine, and fragrant citrus groves - to create a subtropical landscape composition that is both visually spectacular and ecologically coherent with the Cordillera Litoral natural park immediately beyond the boundary. The naturalistic bio-pool at the garden's heart, edged in local fieldstone and surrounded by low sculptural boulders, reads as a lagoon formed by the land itself rather than an object placed upon it. Torch-light path luminaires punctuate the planting at dusk, turning the garden into a choreographed experience as compelling after sunset as it is under the Catalan midday sun.
A final thought
In a project of this scale and location, luxury is not expressed through accumulation - it is expressed through proportion, silence, and the confidence to let the landscape speak first.
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