Health and Comfort

During the past 2-3 years, our priorities in life have changed almost entirely. Homes are no longer just a place to rest our head, they are an all-round comfortable environment in which to live, work and play.

Health is wealth, so they say, and 2023 looks set to deliver dynamic spaces that facilitate a healthy lifestyle. Big open areas that allow freedom of movement around the home, contributing to a positive atmosphere and letting go of the feeling of restriction.

Many people have already begun incorporating dedicated meditation rooms and quiet peaceful gardens into their homes, providing a personal quiet space of their own.

Multifunctional

When the world switched to working from home, so did our need for multifunctional spaces. Gone are the days of spending time on the commute, we’re now used to enjoying our coffee in peace every morning, in an environment that promotes productivity.

Tables that were once only destined for dining, have become the conference area, the workstation, and the socialising area. The kitchen has become the very heart of the home in almost every way, bringing us altogether once again.

Maximise Natural Light and the Environment

It’s a well-known fact that natural light helps improve sleep, mood, and focus, as well as assisting in the production of Vitamin D. There’s nothing worse than bright and sterile artificial lighting, so natural lighting removes the necessity, making the home more energy efficient in the process, too.

Adding large floor-to-ceiling windows not only helps to bring more light into the home, but also invites nature in too. Skylights are also a great way to invite more light into the home by bringing light in from the brightest part of the sky, touching areas that a perimeter window can’t.

Alcoves and Snugs

The opportunities for alcoves and snug areas, whether they’re located in a bathroom, living room or dining room, are endless. Touching upon our earlier point about multifunctional spaces, alcoves are a great way to create a space for working, as well as socialising. They act as a great space for an intimate gathering, or perhaps a quiet retreat from the rest of the home.

Whatever projects you have in mind for 2023, let McLundie Architects guide you through. We’re the experts when it comes to residential home and commercial building design in Sotogrande, Southern Spain and Gibraltar, specialising in end-to-end bespoke designs that suit your lifestyle and budget.

We would love to discuss your upcoming project to see how we can help implement your vision. Simply get in touch with us today: +34 956 796 651 (Sotogrande, Spain), +350 200 71913 (Gibraltar).

Underfloor Heating Provides Better Heating Distribution. Marbella, Sotogrande, Gibraltar, and the rest of the Costa del Sol may be well known for its warm weather, and rightly so, but winter is still winter and heating your home is still a necessity in Spain, no matter where you live. After all, even if the average temperature during the coldest months of December and January is just 15 degrees, that can be quite the change when you’ve gotten accustomed to average 32+ degree temperature summers!

Underfloor heating is a great heating option for homes and villas in Spain because they distribute heat evenly across your home, meaning you don’t need much to take the edge off a cooler autumn evening or chillier winter day. Better heat distribution means that you can accomplish a comfortable temperature across your entire home, too. No more pockets of warmth and cold to navigate while living your best life in Spain, letting you do whatever you love best all year, without interruption.

And because heat travels upward, underfloor heating means you’ll not only have barefoot-worthy warm floors no matter what the outside temperature, the surrounding air, all the way up to the ceiling, will be heated comfortably, too -something other heating methods in Spain can’t accomplish.

Underfloor Heating Can Improve Your Interior Design. Choosing to install underfloor heating at your home or villa in Spain is an effective way of ensuring the exact interior design aesthetic you’re looking for because underfloor heating is completely invisible. Your home will be free of any bulky heaters or air con devices that block views or distract attention away from your show home worthy interior design look and feel.

This lack of wall-mounted air con installation also means you can also free up valuable wall space, letting your architect use it to install additional windows or built-in storage, or allowing you to place furniture, wallpaper, or artwork in any arrangement you prefer without worry about visual clutter or air flow. You can also install an underfloor heating system with practically any flooring, giving you free reign to include whichever floor style you prefer in your interior design, including stone, tile, and marble flooring, popular in Spain and Gibraltar for their ability to keep your home cool in summer.

Underfloor Heating Lowers Your Long-Term Heating Costs. Believe it or not, stone, tile, and marble floors are actually ideal for winter temperatures on the Costa del Sol, too, if you have underfloor heating installed as these materials offer some of the best thermodynamic properties of any flooring type, and making them exceptionally suited for effectively -and cost efficiently, cooling and heating your home no matter what season you’re in.

Despite the luxury of having it installed in your home, opting for underfloor heating also happens to be less expensive than you may think, especially if installed during the initial building of your new home, making it an ideal touch of luxury to include when planning your villa’s design with your architect. Exact costs will always depend on the size and layout of your home, but with significantly lower installation costs plus wholesale pricing that construction companies are offered on parts, getting underfloor heating in your new build villa on the Costa del Sol can be very affordable.

Maintenance costs on your underfloor heating are also quite low as they require almost no up-keep, especially if you opt for an electric underfloor heating system. Wet underfloor heating systems do require periodic servicing, which can fractionally increase costs, but are also less expensive to use on a daily basis, so make sure your architect provides an estimated cost analysis for each type based on your home’s design so you can make an informed decision on which underfloor heating system is right for you.

On-going costs are further reduced and sustainability is improved with the knowledge that underfloor heating has been shown to reduce your home’s energy use by up to 40%. Plus, should you ever decide to sell your home, having underfloor heating installed is a major asset: 74% of homebuyers say they’re willing to pay more for a home that includes an underfloor heating system.

When Not To Install Underfloor Heating

While we generally recommend including underfloor heating in the design of any home, there are two areas in your home you can expect any architect to recommend that it not be installed: directly under a refrigerator and directly under large, heavy furniture. This is because the heat provided could make food go off faster or create host spots which could damage the floor or the furniture on top. Even this, though, can be avoided by installing underfloor heating in combination with marble, stone, or tile flooring which evenly distributes heat -another reason why underfloor heating and Costa del Sol homes are perfectly suited for each other!

In short, if you’re looking to build a home or villa in Spain, don’t forget to speak to your architect about including underfloor heating in its design. It’s well worth it for a variety of reasons.

McLundie Architects are experts at residential home and commercial building design in southern Spain and Gibraltar who specialise in end-to-end bespoke design that meets your lifestyle and your budget with a strong customer charter that puts you at the heart of everything we do.

We are advocates for innovation, sustainability, and quality in every building we design and build and would love the opportunity to discuss your up-coming project and how we can implement it to your vision and the highest of standards.

+34 956 796 651 (Sotogrande, Spain)

+350 200 71913 (Gibraltar) colin@mclundie.es

It is an honor for us to be able to show the Sotogrande newspaper which was published in 1998, when news of the new complex and some initial sketches by these outstanding architects was announced:

Periódico de Sotogrande, published in December 1998

Sketches of the Sotogrande International School, 1998 – 2022

On learning the needs and requirements of the building for the International School of Sotogrande’s boarding students, we knew that this project would be a professional challenge, mainly because of the essential requirement of constructing a building of 3 levels and almost 2500m2 of floor area within just 9 months; since the boarding school had to be operational for the September 2022 school year.

Even though it was a great challenge for the entire team, it has been more than overcome.  This type of project, with its challenges and obstacles, is what makes McLundie Architects stand out in the architectural and professional field. Through an exhaustive and detailed monitoring of the works day after day, we were able to immediately solve any unforeseen issues arising during the process of the works, without consequences to the final result. Like all the projects in which McLundie Architects is involved, this is reflected in the construction of a building with great functionality, personality and prominence.

Final roof plan, Boarding School Building, Sotogrande International School.

Final first floor plan, Boarding School Building, Sotogrande International School.

As in other projects that we carry out, when we reach the end and look back, remembering the entire process until reaching the final result, the satisfaction of the objectives achieved makes us feel “on top of the world”!

Each project is a new challenge and each challenge, a new professional motivation.

As Antonio Gaudí said “The most important requirement for an object to be considered beautiful is that it fulfills the purpose for which it was intended.”