Tradition, vernacular construction and respect for a historic style

Can Freixes. Farmhouse (masia) in the Baix Empordà region

A masia is a rural building that is generally isolated and linked to family farms and/or livestock farms. They have been widespread across eastern Spain and the South of France for many centuries.

The layout and design of each of these farmhouses was logical – yet involved a certain level of improvisation – and followed a tailor-made plan based on the requirements of the inhabitants, so that each masia now has its own character and personality.

In terms of construction, the widespread use of stone and ceramics stood out. In most masias, a barrel-vault could be found on the ground floors (as in this case) to protect the wooden beams from damage caused by damp in the stables.

This project is located in the heart of the Baix Empordà region, surrounded by fields used for dry farming.

The farmhouse shares a wall with another larger one, which, together, once formed a single building. It underwent an extension in the 1980s that was far from traditional and distorted its image.

Therefore, the first starting point was to recover the essence of the masia, conserving and enhancing the few original elements (mainly found on the ground floor), while also improving the extension’s appearance as much as possible, to make it more representative of the style we are working with.

To achieve this, the ground floor level has been lowered and opened up to the land to the rear, the barrel vault has been filled in, the vaulted ceilings have been plastered – after breaking the ceramic vaults which make up the floor slabs – the impact of the use of grey-coloured stone has been minimised as it is not typical of the area, new exterior wall openings have been created, maintaining a certain vertical style, and an English-style courtyard has been created on the street-facing side, etc.

Reclaimed elements such as stone jambs and lintels, handmade ceramic tiles, doors, washbasins, sinks, fences, lanterns, fountains and furniture appear throughout the project, reinforcing the identity of the masia, in a setting of ochre colours and rough textures and materials.

 

  • year 2021
  • location Mont-ras (Costa Brava)
  • photographer Aitor Estévez
  • contributors Josep Curanta
We use our own and third-party cookies to make our website work safely and personalize its content. Likewise, we use cookies to measure and obtain data on your navigation and to adjust advertising to your tastes and preferences. Press the "Accept all" button to confirm that you have read and accepted the information presented. To manage or disable these cookies, click on "Configuration".
Modify cookies
Technical and functional Always active
This website uses its own Cookies to collect information in order to improve our services. If you continue browsing, you accept their installation. The user has the possibility of configuring his browser, being able, if he so wishes, to prevent them from being installed on his hard drive, although he must bear in mind that such action may cause difficulties in navigating the website.
Analytics and personalization
They allow the monitoring and analysis of the behavior of the users of this website. The information collected through this type of cookies is used to measure the activity of the web for the elaboration of user navigation profiles in order to introduce improvements based on the analysis of the usage data made by the users of the service. They allow us to save the user's preference information to improve the quality of our services and to offer a better experience through recommended products.
Marketing and advertising
These cookies are used to store information about the preferences and personal choices of the user through the continuous observation of their browsing habits. Thanks to them, we can know the browsing habits on the website and display advertising related to the user's browsing profile.