In the Caldes de Malavella countryside in Girona, within the natural setting of Camiral Golf & Wellness, stands a house that raises a question increasingly common in contemporary architecture – can a home directly improve the health of those who live in it?
Designed by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, Casa Camiral is the first single-family home in Europe with WELL certification, an international system that assesses how buildings influence people's physical and mental well-being.
For the Valencian studio, the project has been a unique experience. “It represents a significant achievement. We don't specialise in WELL certifications, so the joint work with Evalore – a strategic consultancy firm – has been vital in correctly implementing all the requirements of the standard,” explains Silvestre.
Beyond obtaining the certificate, the process has served to delve deeper into issues that, according to this architect, are already an intrinsic part of architecture: "The interesting thing has been to see how many of these criteria align with concerns that are already part of architecture: light, air, comfort or the building's relationship with the environment."
One could say that the house is directly inspired by its location. The narrow, elongated plot calls for a longitudinal layout, which is reflected in the design as a sequence of spaces facing the open countryside. “The site was absolutely crucial. The design’s geometry practically arose from the plot itself, which has a very distinct elongated shape,” explained Silvestre, who believes that this “determines both the house’s proportions and the layout of the main rooms, particularly the living area, which faces the golf course”.
Biophilic design
The connection with the surroundings is one of Casa Camiral's defining features. Large openings allow views of the landscape from inside the house. “The spaces are designed to be extensions of the landscape, creating a seamless transition between inside and outside, reinforcing the project’s biophilic approach, says the architect. Biophilia, a concept increasingly present in contemporary design, advocates that connection with nature has positive effects on health and well-being.
The house has three levels. The ground floor houses the living area, with the living room facing the landscape, while the kitchen and a bedroom face east. The upper floor has two bedrooms and a study overlooking the entrance to the property.
One of the project’s most striking features is the way the upper volume is offset from the main structure. This creates a large covered terrace whilst also defining the house’s overall appearance. “We needed to create a shaded area on the main façade, but at the same time we wanted to avoid having pillars that would obstruct the views of the golf course,” explains Fran Silvestre. The solution was to use the upper floor as a large canopy protecting the outdoor space without obstructing views of the surrounding landscape.
The property is complemented by a semi-underground space that houses the garage, utility rooms and a multi-purpose area. The central communication core connects the three levels via a north-facing staircase with a skylight. This vertical void visually ties the entire house together and extends through to the top floor towards the study, forming the design's focal point.
Even though architecture plays a central role throughout Casa Camiral, what makes this property unique is its focus on well-being. The WELL standard is based on seven pillars: air, water, nutrition, light, physical activity, comfort and mind.
Some of the strategies used in the house include advanced ventilation systems that purify the air through ultraviolet radiation and photocatalytic oxidation, paints that neutralise pollutants, and antibacterial surfaces. Drinking water is filtered through a reverse osmosis system that ensures controlled mineralisation.
Lighting is also designed with the body’s biological rhythms in mind: the house features a circadian lighting system that mimics the natural changes in light throughout the day, because, as Silvestre explains, “it’s important to understand that not all warm lights work in the same way. Even if they have a low colour temperature, some may contain wavelengths that disrupt our circadian rhythm. That is why you need to choose your lights carefully so that they really do contribute to your well-being in your home”.
Another particularly interesting aspect of the project is its focus on mental health. In this case, design decisions were based on research into how we perceive our surroundings. The architect explains: “Very specific design choices can influence our emotional state. For example, certain colour schemes or specific approaches to integrating elements within a space can help to lower cortisol levels, promoting a greater sense of calm. “Some studies also suggest that being able to see nature at different scales, for example, at around three metres, 30 metres and 300 metres, creates a sense of mental calm,” he adds. Including these visual connections with nature is part of the project’s strategy.
Commitment to well-being goes beyond the little things that usually go unnoticed in a home. As this architectural firm points out, many homes actually have higher levels of indoor pollution than outdoors, due to varnishes, adhesives or certain materials used during construction. Factors such as potential allergies to specific plant species are also taken into account when designing the landscaping.
Architecture is “frozen music”
In the project brief, Fran Silvestre Arquitectos quotes an idea from the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who described architecture as “frozen music”. For the architect, this metaphor helps to describe the feeling evoked by the house: “We like to think of architecture as movement frozen in time”. At Casa Camiral, this sense of movement is evident in the interplay between the volumes that form the terrace and shape the house, a gesture that seems to capture a moment of tension and turn it into a built form.
The study also draws a parallel with Andreu Alfaro’s sculpture Figura a punto de volar ( figure about to fly), a piece that conveys the sense of being about to take flight, even though it remains completely still. Something similar occurs in this house, where the architecture appears to possess an intrinsic dynamism despite the stillness of its lines.
Fran Silvestre is currently working with the Neuroarchitecture Laboratory at the Polytechnic University of Valencia to apply some of these strategies to larger-scale projects. For example, in some projects, they have gone so far as to design homes that, from a water management perspective, do not need to be connected to the mains supply, as they produce their own water through various systems, including condensation. “From there, you realise that many residential developments waste, for example, the condensation water from air-conditioning systems, when it could easily be used to fill toilets. Thousands of minor details like this could lead to significant resource savings and improve how homes function,” reflects Silvestre. He believes this type of research has the potential to generate an interesting knowledge transfer towards collective housing.
For the moment, Casa Camiral has become a kind of laboratory that explores how architecture can go beyond form to become an active tool for well-being.
