Our Lonely Island
Washington University in St. Louis | Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design
ARCH 419 | Core Architecture Design Studio V | Alfredo Paya | Autumn 2014
1. living unit (1400sf)
2. private terrace (600sf)
3. rentable space for income (500sf)
4. public terrace with access to sea wall
5. living unit (1200sf)
6. private terrace (600Ssf)
7. living unit (1200sf)
8. private terrace (600sf)
9. public terrace (1100sf)
10. living unit (1700sf)
11. private terrace (600sf)
12. living unit (1700sf)
13. private terrace (1200sf)
Individual Living Unit Diagram
Wall System
Wall Section
Our lonely Island is a place for escape and solitude. It wrestles with the idea of confinement, while at the same time embracing the context of the surrounding oceanic field. From one point of view, we are confined to the village grid, locked behind the fortified walls. On the other, we are at the mercy of the salt water to lift us away and into the expanse of the Balearic Sea. For a village that literally opens its doors to tourists as its economic sustenance, it is physically closed off from the outside world. I aspire to develop a future for Tabarca, Alicante Spain, that recognizes the wall as a cultural artifact, by developing secret places, that become sacred spaces, in order for the village to reach outward, and then pull back in.
Intention
Along the Mediterranean Coast, Tabarca is a small and beautiful Island located in the South East of Spain. Here, we are tasked with developing emotional spaces that are closely linked to the context, including surroundings, climate, and the lifestyles connected to Mediterranean culture. Our Lonely Island works to create a locally appropriate alternative typology to a dwelling that establishes collective living spaces capable of establishing a close relationship between the street and the house, sea and the dweller, and the local with the tourist. Through an opening of building facade, drawing people through the homes and out to the sea, this architecture works to revitalize the social life of the island by creating an exchange between neighbors. Spaces are shared. Instead of fortification behind walls, the walls host uses, the kitchen, the closet, the bathroom, but people live beyond them such that islanders are connected with context, the island and the sea. In doing so, the ordinary becomes extraordinary, everyday life conveys and creates links with the outside.
