Okay, so you’ve settled in to your new home and everything’s hunky dory. Your new home is well placed, both socially and geographically, but these days, you must ask yourself one more important question: are you really in the real world? The real world is now connected, but are you in it? You may be smart enough to have moved to a super-luxury home in an enviable location (like Villa Alcuzcuz, for example), but how smart is the house itself?
As houses go, Villa Alcuzcuz has, in fact, an IQ as high as it can get. Not only does it think for itself, but it thinks for you too. It looks after itself, and it looks after you too. Built under Passive House Regulations and Standards, which is a performance standard rather than a specific construction method, this house incorporates just about all a contemporary family home needs by way of state-of-the-art technology, ensuring the prevention of thermal loss, the reduction of energy consumption (with 75 percent reduction on energy costs), consistently fresh air throughout the house at all times and the safety and security of its residents. To say it has a low carbon footprint is indeed an understatement.
Some of it you see, but most of it is out of view. All of the structure, including the foundations, the roof, the facades and the windows has been thermally insulated. The foundations have a double layer of insulation, while the facades have an extra thick insulation layer of 15 cms, like a cozy thermal blanket that covers and protects the entire house, whatever the weather. The doors and windows are of the highest quality, and comply fully with Class 4 tightness test, which is the highest possible level. And the terraces have been designed as large protective “sunbrellas”, providing shade, of course, and also allowing the heat to enter in the winter and the cool air to circulate inside during the hot summer months.
The facades are made up of an astonishing ten different elements whose technical names we need not know, but whose purpose is evident in the year-round comfort of the house, the annual energy bill and the feeling we have of living in a house with the lowest possible carbon footprint.
Energy efficiency is the cornerstone of the Passive House concept. It all comes down to comparable figures: a Passive House uses no more than 1,5 litres of oil or 1,5 cubic metres of natural gas, which is 15kWh, to heat each square metre of living space. Compare this to a typical building and you have a 75 percent reduction in space heating or cooling energy use. And in addition, Villa Alcuzcuz uses other methods of reducing energy consumption, such as an aerothermal ventilation system and the use of solar panels for the water supply, the underfloor heating and the LED lighting system.
Lighting is taken to a new level in this house, part of the Bright philosophy being that top quality design-led architecture and interior design is lacking a vital element if not seen at its best at all times, day or night. Lighting has, over recent decades, become a creative art form in its own right, and the lighting systems in Villa Alcuzcuz make for a true work of applied art.
The overall result is the highest level of luxury and comfort ever designed in a house, but luxury and comfort will not keep your house safe and secure. This requirement is fulfilled to an extraordinary degree by the designers of Villa Alcuzcuz without it turning into an armed fortress. A surveillance and alarm system is connected to a sophisticated domotic system, ensuring, through the Internet, that residents know what exactly is happening in the house at all times, wherever they are. A door left open for a specified time without movement detected, for example, and the door automatically closes.
Kitchen surfaces that charge your iPhone may be delightfully convenient, and domotics may be a fairly new word that makes living easy, but to see how technology has been harnessed to work with maximum efficiency for your pleasure, head to the entertainment area. Here we find a lot more than the traditional giant television screen as the main item of modern entertainment technology. Here we also have a state-of-the-art golf simulator, DJ booth and complete bar, a gym filled with the very best fitness equipment, a wellness zone with treatment rooms and relaxation areas.
Think of all those access codes you need to remember these days. Think of all the tiny details you need to remember just to maintain yourself on the straight and narrow. Think of all the things you’re going to have to think about in the future that you didn’t ever think you’d have to think about before. Think, think, think…
But while living in Villa Alcuzcuz, you’ll not have to think too much about the house you live in.
To book a viewing of Villa Alcuzcuz, call our Sales Manager, Andrew Lee on: (+34) 682 105 002 or send him and email: andrew@by-bright.com
