It is a simple house, 70 square meters. It has flat Alicante tiles and a white facade with a plinth. Get light, lots of light. And its location is enviable: just open the door and cross a simple boardwalk to reach the sea. , east of the city of . An area of humble origin, of fishermen who built tiny houses on the beach that, over time, evolved. That solution became, however, a problem for the generations that came later, because the land was part of the beach and is still public, so doing any type of work requires complex permits to obtain. It is precisely these obstacles that the 35-year-old architect has managed to overcome to give life to the modest Sotarrá House thanks to a work without fanfare that has sought to restore its roof and comply with habitability regulations.
Banda del Mar street, which runs parallel to the Mediterranean, is home to the vast majority of homes like this one, which float in a kind of limbo: their owners can use them, but on land that continues to belong to the State and depends on the Coastal Demarcation. The inconveniences generated——have also been, in some ways, a blessing. The impossibility of demolishing and building new construction has protected the environment. It is one of the few kidneys that maintains its original idiosyncrasy – beyond a questionable aesthetic – while the historic center is transformed for tourism and similar and nearby neighborhoods such as Pedregalejo suffer gentrification, with the rapid advance of hospitality and tourist apartments to the detriment of residential use. “The resistance of El Palo is exemplary. It is the little we have left: I cannot imagine Malaga without this neighborhood,” emphasizes Ortega.
He has been one of the pioneers in undertaking the updating of one of these old fishermen’s houses. And he has done it thanks to knowing the terrain well, knowing how to wait patiently and, also, by chance. The Casa Sotarrá project – which owes its name to the popular word that locals use to mend fishing nets – was born in 2021. Ortega, who had studied architecture at the , finished that year the master’s degree in Architectural Projects: Environmental Design and New Technologies at the , for which he had been awarded a scholarship after winning a public competition. His final work focused on popular architecture in Los and El Palo, defined in the ordinance as a Popular Traditional Colony.
Make the living space
In his research he discovered self-built houses, humble materials, little presence of concrete and use of traditional construction techniques. Also narrow streets and an urban planning without rules which, in turn, is a sustainable model from which, he believed, norms could be developed that would allow the traditional idiosyncrasy to be maintained. in August 2021. And one of the photos that accompanied the text was that of number 57 Banda del Mar Street. “It turned out that the owner was from Vélez-Málaga, like me. He called me and made me a proposal. I accepted without knowing too well what I was getting into,” recalls the professional.
The proposal was complete: manage the authorizations, carry out the project and lead the work. To reach it, the long process required permission from the Junta de Andalucía and the subsequent license from the Urban Planning Management of the . The deadlines dragged on until the architect found the key: the solution was, at least, to restore the roof. It was in poor condition, with reeds and rotten wood that could fall in any storm. “The idea I proposed was always to make the house a habitable space,” says the architect. That project, after different comings and goings, ended up coming together when the young professional devised a strategic plan in stages indicating all the cloths that were in poor condition and needed to be replaced. A carbon copy but updated. The license arrived in 2024. It was patching time.
Woods and reeds
The works began, in January 2025, on the roof. The original roof was a false ceiling built from reeds and narrow beams on which they had been installed, using bone. And the plan was to remove it to install new wooden supports with fungicidal and fire-retardant treatment, recycled wood chip panels to act as insulation and support and to re-place, on battens, Alicante tiles manufactured by . This also allowed the generation of a six-centimeter air chamber, so the heat generated by the ceramic ventilates in that space and escapes upward through barely visible grilles. This way it dissipates before affecting the home. The restitution operation, given the poor condition of the wooden structural framework, was carried out by securing some parts and replacing others.
Beyond that, the home was updated inside. What already existed was redistributed to adapt it to the planning regulations. , where the pavement was renewed with Aragonese stoneware tiles. On the left side is the kitchen and, on the right, a small room for the washing machine and the bathroom, with exterior access to go through after a day at the beach. It also has another door from the living room, which occupies the entire front of the property. The private area is left behind, to the north, with two rooms that are reached through a small hallway. , which intensifies natural light. The entire public area—kitchen and living room—is exposed to light with sliding windows that open the house to the patio to improve drafts and receive both natural lighting and the fresh sea breeze to gain energy efficiency. The house has air conditioning, but the architect believes it is not even necessary. In summer, when the heat hits, just the . The days of
The façade, a copy of the original, is white and is updated with a ceramic stoneware plinth finished in green that is interpreted as having previously been based on plastic paint. It includes a small section of , installed in bone and whose gray color maintains the color palette. Its permeability allows you to see the blue of the sea. “In addition, it suffers less from salinity than mud,” says the architect, who points out that this aspect has also influenced the placement of granite stones on the window sills. “We have used humble, traditional materials that maintain the essence of the neighborhood’s homes,” he insists. The works finished at the beginning of this month of April.
“In the end we have done nothing more than read the neighborhood, analyze the regulatory situation and recompose the image of what there was. It is the only way to preserve this area,” emphasizes the architect, who believes that the surroundings of Casa Sotarrá should be protected just as it was done with the historic center – declared – to maintain its original idiosyncrasy. “Protection should not always be for monuments or buildings signed by great architects or with special aesthetics. Architecture without an architect [] It must also be valued and defended. If we also think about sustainability, reuse, tradition… They have it all. At a social and cultural level, the value of these houses is unmatched,” says someone who believes that the area where Casa Sotarrá is located should have its own urban planning to prohibit the increase in density or height and provide aesthetic guidelines. “From there, it could be maintained in a similar way to the current one and preserve its value forever, also ensuring that people do not have to leave.” “Here we are filled with seafaring Malaga until we can speculate on the land. ”concludes Ortega.
