Casa Boratuna: a house in the beautiful and little-known Vall del Llémena, in Girona

The Vall del Llémena extends between the Gironès and the Garrotxa, bounded to the west by the sierras of Finestres, Portelles and Rocacorba, and traversed from end to end by the stream that gives it its name, a tributary of the Ter. It is a territory that holds a quiet beauty: wheat fields, stone farmhouses, hazel groves, vegetation-covered volcanoes and a Romanesque heritage scattered across its main municipalities. Its proximity to the Costa Brava and the Garrotxa has kept it for decades on the margins of well-travelled tourist circuits, preserving intact its rural character and domestic scale. It is in that landscape that Victor Bouman implants Casa Boratuna..

For centuries, agriculture shaped these hillsides into horizontal platforms — the feixes of the Catalan tradition — that order the terrain, retain the earth and orient the gaze toward the valley. When Bouman takes on the commission, he accepts that pre-existing geography as the project’s point of departure. The site is organised as a sequence of stepped terraces, each with its own use: the vegetable garden, the swimming pool, the parking area, the outdoor terrace. The house occupies the uppermost platform, the widest one, with the best views. From there, the valley opens in its full extent. The implantation extends the order the landscape already had.

Form and energy performance

Bouman designs a square plan. A decision that in another context might seem arbitrary here carries its own justification: compactness reduces the envelope surface relative to the habitable volume, with a direct impact on the building’s energy performance. The pitched roof completes that logic: it adapts the volume to the slope of the terrain, reduces its visual presence in the landscape and organises the interior section into two levels that allow the space beneath the roof to be inhabited with full dignity.

Inside, the central transverse space acts as the backbone of the house: entrance hall, kitchen, living room and dining room follow one another without partitions between them, forming a continuous band that connects the two main façades. The four corners accommodate the bedrooms; the bathroom and laundry room are positioned along the sides. The layout is generous without being excessive; each room has the right amount of space.

Nearly zero energy consumption standards

The energy performance of the house results from the sum of decisions that reinforce one another. Insulation is enhanced throughout the envelope. The aerothermal system handles both climate control and domestic hot water production. The compact form minimises thermal bridges and reduces transmission losses. The whole approaches nearly zero energy consumption standards without seeking certifications that are not, in this case, the goal: beyond a label, efficiency here is a consequence of projective rigour.

Casa Boratuna was selected for the Premis d’Arquitectura de Girona 2025, a recognition that confirms the soundness of a proposal that resolves a demanding domestic programme with both effectiveness and sensitivity in a landscape of great value.

Project: Casa Boratuna.
Typology: vivienda unifamiliar aislada.
Location: Vall del Llémena, Girona.
Completed: 2024.
Architect: Victor Bouman.
Collaborators: RSC Arquitectura, Construccions Marc i Jou, ELKE Windows, Fustech, Rajoleria Quintana, Piscines Blanes.
Photography: Pol Viladoms.
Awards: obra seleccionada, Premis d’Arquitectura de Girona 2025.
Source: Bouman Arquitectura.

Victor Bouman

Víctor Bouman is part of a generation of architects who have turned simplicity into a form of precision and made the landscape their main ally. An architect trained at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB, 2016), his work today unfolds between Girona and the Costa Brava, where he designs quiet, compact homes that are deeply attentive to the climate and to the real lives of those who inhabit them.

In 2020 he founded Bouman Arquitectura, a studio based in Girona and Llançà (Costa Brava) that is defined above all by a calm, straightforward and honest way of working. From these two bases, urban yet very close to the territory, the studio works with private clients and developers on new-build projects, refurbishments, interior design, retail and landscape, guided by a clear thread: creating spaces that are easy to live in, quiet and sustainable, where architecture does not impose itself on life but supports it discreetly. View full biography.

Project by Victor Bouman