Set on a gently terraced plot within El Tosalet, Casa Valls underwent a complete transformation under Jessica Bataille's direction. The original structure gave way to open-plan living spaces anchored in local stone, warm timber, and hand-applied finishes.
The pool terrace and its relationship with the carob trees that frame the property became the emotional centre of the project. Every decision was made in service of that relationship: between inside and outside, between shade and light, between the ancient stone of the site and the contemporary lives lived within it.
The material vocabulary of Casa Valls draws entirely from the Tosalet landscape. Local limestone for the walls and floors, laid in the traditional method without adhesive. Oak beams sourced from an old farmhouse and re-sawn. Lime plaster mixed with pigments to match the colour of the surrounding soil.
None of these choices were purely aesthetic. Each one responds to the climate, the humidity, the temperature swings between summer and winter. Beauty, here, is the result of building correctly — not of decorating.
The exterior of Casa Valls was designed around the pool terrace and its relationship with the mature vegetation of the plot. The carob trees — some of them more than fifty years old — were preserved and integrated into the design. The pool deck was laid in the same stone as the interior floors, blurring the boundary between inside and outside.
