- Casa ON by Guillem Carrera Arquitecte embraces nature and passive design strategies
- Energy-efficient home integrating bioclimatic design, solar panels, and eco-friendly construction methods.
- Project: Casa ON
- Location: Reus, Tarragona,
- Spain
- Architects:
- Guillem Carrera
- Typology:
- Private Residence
- Area: 278m²
- Images by Adrià Goula | www.adriagoula.com
The Blancafort urbanization is a low-density residential development that extends from a sports facility established in 1970. It is set in a natural environment, just one kilometre from the city centre of Reus. The area includes around one hundred plots, most of which feature single-family homes. The streets are flat and straight, forming regular blocks, and a well-maintained promenade lined with greenery enhances the feeling of a garden city. The houses, with a few more recent exceptions, share a similar aesthetic. Built with traditional materials, they occupy a significant portion of their plots.
Casa ON is located on the southernmost edge of this urbanization, at the beginning of a street where two adjacent plots initially remained undeveloped. This area sits slightly apart from the main residential fabric, offering strong visual connections to the surrounding landscape. The site is largely free from neighbouring buildings and bordered on three sides by open green or agricultural land, mostly oriented to the southeast and southwest. However, the plot’s trapezoidal shape and urban planning constraints limit the possible footprint for construction.
The design brief required the integration of both family living spaces and a professional office, each with independent access from the outside, while maintaining an interior link between them. It was also essential to visually separate the family and work areas from one another and from the undeveloped parts of the plot, ensuring that these distinct functions wouldn’t directly face each other or share visual lines between indoor and outdoor spaces.
Casa ON responds to these conditions with a clearly defined volumetric composition. The façades facing the neighbouring plot and the street are designed to be clean and opaque, with only essential openings. In contrast, the southeast and southwest façades open to the landscape, adopting an organic form that balances solid and void spaces and incorporates passive solar design strategies.
The ground floor accommodates the main living areas, a guest room, garage, and the professional office. Each of these spaces connects to the garden in a unique way, while maintaining visual privacy between zones. Though located on the same level, these areas can function independently without overlap. A similar approach is taken on the upper floor, where the four bedrooms are oriented to provide individual views and natural light from different directions.
At the heart of the home is a staircase that defines the vertical circulation. Positioned with precision, it connects the two floors at an optimal point and is integrated into the overall layout to reduce unnecessary circulation space. The house also features a first-floor terrace and a rooftop lookout terrace, offering panoramic views of local landmarks, including the nearby pre-coastal mountain range.
The structure combines concrete and steel without altering the site’s natural topography. The exterior finishes are achieved using traditional materials and techniques, such as lime mortar, wood, and steel. Paving around the house has been kept to a minimum, while the remaining open space has been turned into landscaped gardens or productive green areas.
Inside, the focus is on materials that invite sensory engagement—textures and finishes that evoke comfort, intimacy, and spatial richness. Wood plays a central role, used extensively in cladding, stairs, doors, lighting, and custom furniture. This material continuity blurs the boundaries between inside and out, between different levels, and between the architectural object and its natural context.
Sustainability has been a fundamental aspect of the design. The house incorporates passive solar strategies, cross ventilation, efficient glazing, photovoltaic panels, a high-performance HVAC system, and dual-flow ventilation with heat recovery. Together with careful detailing of the building envelope and the use of high thermal-performance materials, these measures have earned the home an A rating for energy efficiency.
Name of the project : Casa ON
Location : Reus, Tarragona, Spain
Promoter : Private
Architect : Guillem Carrera
Building engineer: : Albert Pons
Structure : Windmill Structural Consultants SLP
Energy and systems: Zero Consulting (Ecotec Enginyers SLP)
Topography : Topland Topografia
Geotechnics : Geotec Estudis Geotècnics i Mediambientals SL
Cllaborators : Mireia Pla, Tamara Carballal, Mònica López, Meritxell Anglès
Constructor : JPCP El Fornàs SL
Subcontractors : Serralleria Manser SL, Nou Concepte Interiors SL, Luxiform Il•luminació SL, Oficrea SL, Metàlics Aleix SL, Blau Pools Reus SL
Surface : 278 m2
Photograph : Adrià Goula | www.adriagoula.com
Web : www.guillemcarrera.com
e-Mail : guillemcarrera@coac.net
Instagram : www.instagram.com/guillemcarreraarquitecte
Facebook : www.facebook.com/GUILLEMCARRERAarquitecte
Twitter : www.twitter.com/gcarreraarq
LinkedIn : es.linkedin.com/company/guillemcarrera
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Casa ON by Guillem Carrera Arquitecte embraces nature and passive design strategies
