MY SUMMER HOUSE :
Every summer I spend more or less 1 month at my grandmother’s house , that is in Burriana , Catellón. There I live with all my cousins as it’s a very big house .
Also only when I go there I can see my dog , that lives with my grandmother during the year .
We have so much fun there because there are many things to do ;we have a tennis court , table tennis , basketball , swimming pool … Also I have a lot of friends in Burriana so I do parties at my house , I go to the beach with them …
August is like my desconnection month and this house my “safe place ” .
It has a big garden , and what most attracts attention as you get in are the palm trees , I have never count them but I believe there are more than 20 …
It has a rustic design , with a lot of woods . Also another thing that attracts the attention when you enter to the house , is the big amount of paintings there are at the front wall . It has 3 floors and 3 rooms at each one , with one bathroom per floor .
My grandmother lives at the first one , the parents at second one and all the counsins at the last one .
Q1. Why did you choose this place?
I have chosen this place because I feel that when I’m living there , I’m happier than the rest of the year .
During the year me and my family go there once or twice a month to visit my grandmother .
Q2. What do you think makes you be at ease?
I’m sure that what makes me be at ease is being with my family all together , the good weather , the friends I have there , being with my family and dog …
Also I love my rutine there : I wake up , have breakfast at the terraze listening to the birds (it gives me peace) , go to the beach , have lunch with my cousins , watch movies , go to my favourite ice cream place , go party …
Q3. Is there any disruptive element?
I feel that the only “bad thing” or dusruptive element about this house is that is 45 minutes away from Valencia , so I can’t go there whenever I want .
Q4. Do you think you’d feel the same way in another space right now?
I don´t I can feel the same way in any other space because as we are starting now the university and all I think about is summer , good weather , beach , party , friends , family … and it’s only there .
Q5. Do you think that the particular conditions of this space may
influence its occupants? How?
I’m sure that every corner of the house makes the stay special : the terraze where the sun never shines so is the coolest part of the house , my grandfather’s office full of books where when we were young we did our summer homework , the rooms full of beds to fit all the cousins …
Q6. Would you change anything?
I would never change anything of that house . I want my sons spending their summer there as I have done during my entire live .
Atmospheres, by Peter Zumthor
In this book the author talks about the importance of the sourranding of a building . The relationship between people and how they perceive the reality .
“Buildings and their surroundings have the capacity to offer people a good place in which to live their lives.”
I believe the same as Peter , that each person is connected to reality in a different way and that is the beauty of architecture , as it can suggest multiple different things deppending on the person who is leaving there.
For example last year I traveled to Croacia with my family . We rented a house in front of the beach , my moms dream . She dreams on leaving by the see , but for me that’s a hard thing because I am so scared of the see and I always think that as closer to the see you are , more dangerous the storms will be , so I would never live too close to the see .
What I mean with this is that the enviroment in this house was the best it could had been for my mom but one of the worsts for me , and here we see the importance on the relationship between the person and the sourranding .