JELLYFISH HOUSE BY WIEL ARETS

This vacation house is located on a site close to the beach, where the view to the ocean is blocked at the ground level by a neighboring building.

The swimming pool is lifted to the roof, where it is cantilevered out as an extension of the roof terrace, providing panoramic views. Public and private programs overlap throughout the house, taking full advantage of indoor-outdoor living.

The public spaces of the house, such as the living and dining rooms, and the private spaces of the house, such as the bedrooms, are connected by separate but intertwining circulation routes.

The house provides possibilities for voyeuristic experiences in other ways as well, such as the window in the bottom of the pool that allows those on the covered terrace below to see who is swimming, and a second window at the rear of the pool that allows those swimming to see who is in the kitchen.

The swimming pool is programmed as an extension of the roof terrace, which enables a long-distance view. The house is organized according to three different routes.

In addition to the main entrance, the path from the beach provides access to the ground floor and to the roof garden, without having to enter the house itself. A third route provides an entrance for guests.

A separate circulation path connects the family’s private zones. Both circulation systems intertwine and confront each other.

Each level of the house has a distinctive orientation to the outside, as the movement increasingly becomes freer from lower to upper floors.

Location: Los Monteros, Marbella, Spain 
Architect: Wiel Arets 
Project Team: Wiel Arets, Bettina Kraus, Lars Dreessen, Dennis Villanueva
Collaborators: Paul Draaijer, William Fung, Johannes Kappler 
Consultants: West 8, ABT BV, Cauberg-Huygen Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV, Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos S.L. 
Area: 650 m2
Year: 2013