Social housing in Monte Hacho

The plot of land the Europan 5 competition proposed in Ceuta had these characteristics. Monte Hacho, a place riddled with fortifications incrusted in a rocky mountainside, suffers the aggressiveness of the east wind, which blows 200 days a year at an average of 80 kilometers an hour. On top of that, the impenetrability of the rock and the accentuated topography have forced the self-constructed buildings in the area to adapt to cavities, hollows and small flat areas in order to colonize the singular nature of this place. The location, a former quarry, is full of pits resulting from the extraction of stone. The new houses protect themselves from the wind at the same time as they describe its lashing. These conditions, along with the implantation, communications with the city and the typologies of the houses, substantiate the decisions of the project. The complex consists of 127 officially protected houses, of which 41 are single-family and the remainder distributed in six tower blocks, each of them fixed firmly in the old excavations of the quarry. Due to the strong topography and the rocky structure of the terrain, the single-family houses attempt to “scratch“ the ground as little as possible, the rock being thereby introduced inside the dwelling, and the latter into the little pits of the pre-existing quarry. In order to protect itself from the wind, the concept of a “niche house“ makes its appearance: the house cannot present its facade directly to the wind, but should construct its own barrier, instead, without ceasing to relate to the exterior. The resulting open space is as important as the space that is occupied. There is al so the “reversible house“: a type of housing in which the position of its components can be interchanged, depending on the views: towards the Mediterranean or towards the Atlantic. On the other hand, and due to the topography of the terrain and to the rationality of the types proposed, we have thought of setting out the entrances as is fitting (upper or lower), although generally speaking one accedes to almost all the single-family houses from the street via the first floor, in which are situated the lounge, kitchen and terrace. The project’s six towers emerge from the cluster of houses described above. The sum total in vertical terms of the functional packages-a package of bedrooms and of a kitchen and lounge-that adapt to the single-family houses are not in vain; packages freely set out on the ground plane, making for spatial diagonals towards the exterior that seek to capture the landscape of the Straits of Gibraltar. The direct action of the wind and the damp climate oblige the relationship of the house to the outside to be established through an intermediary, open-air space (also conceived as a functional package) that, without sticking out from the vertical plane of the tower, is excavated in the latter and acts as a form of ventilation and lighting for the entire house.

José Morales Sanchez and Juan González Mariscal founded the study of business in 1987. In 1998 Sara de Giles Dubois joined the studio as a new partner. In 2004 the study was consolidated under the name of Morales de Giles Arquitectos SL. The teaching of the components of the team has developed a strong interest in the typological and formal investigation, and in a constant exploration of new scenarios of the present architecture. The work of Morales de Giles Architects has been developed primarily based on earned top prizes in contests of ideas, both public and restricted. The competitions have enabled them to be gained by consolidating built a work that reflects a strong public interest in architecture, both in equipment and in housing. The projects have been developed looking for quality solutions at every stage, a strong coherence between all aspects of the project and a particular attention to detail obtained through the absolute control of materials and technology solutions. The work of Morales de Giles Arquitectos reflects a careful study on its entire development process, both in technical projects and in the execution of the works; recognized by various agencies and public and private institutions that have recognized the high quality of these to Through numerous national and international awards.