Introduction

La Casa de Baix, the house down the hill, is a country house located in the town of Cervera. It has been there since approximately the year 1700. We say near this date because it does not appear in the Registries; the date agrees with those inscribed on the lintels of the houses in the neighborhood. It is a small house, corresponding to the houses of the peasantry in the town; it has the width of a crugia (the length of a beam of wood).

The house is comprised of four levels. The ground floor, which was once a barn, is now a living room.

The first floor is an apartment that consists of a living-dinning room, a kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms, one double and one single both with built-in wardrobes, and two large balconies, one in front and the other overlooking the backyard. The place is about 50 m2.

The second floor is an apartment similar to the first one. With the following differences: it has a balcony overlooking the street, a window over the backyard, and the rooms have vaulted ceilings with exposed wooden beams.

The third floor is a studio that consists of two areas. It has an open plan kitchen, a bathroom and a terrace. The whole studio is under a wooden roof with exposed beams. It does not have a wardrobe (but instead, a dress hanger, a chest of drawers and a clothes hanger).

The renewal and restoration of the building lasted two years. It was our intention from the beginning to maintain the character of a country house of Cervera, altering the minimum of its structure and preserving the building elements to the utmost, as well as using the most suitable ecological criteria. Out of all of the wooden beams that there are in the house, only five are new; the old ones were removed, refurbished, restored and re-installed. The same was done with the floors. Long ago, the floors of these houses were made of plaster, and later, of resilla (small tile made from ceramics used in the region).  We kept the original floor in all those places where it could be maintained, and, in the case of new flooring, we used the same kind of building materials.

The paints are ecological and natural oils were used in the sealing of the ceramics and woodwork. The wood was reused or recycled when possible. The reinforcement of the walls has been left in rough and the reinforcements of iron, exposed, to give evidence of the interventions. In the barn, as well as in the living-dinning room on the first floor, two sample cuts have been left open in order to show the type of original work, mud wall, in this case. On the second floor, there are pillars of stone that once sustained the roof; although they do not fulfill any building function any more, they have been left to show the original building technique (they would build the pillars and then fill the gaps in between with partitions). The holes and shapes of former interventions in the house were left as well: in the barn, the trough, the hayloft and a small reliquary. We also found an unfinished press that has been left open to show the size they were at the time. On the first floor we found a small niche and the form of a great earth fire pit that has been preserved, although divided by a wall that could not be moved. A corner cupboard has also been preserved.

Due to the dimensions of the house and its style of construction, the installation of a lift was not possible, therefore access to the different floors is by the staircase, on which some of the original parts have been preserved; the rest was built maintaining the original techniques.

The house has gas heating. The kitchens are equipped with the usual utensils to cook, glass-ceramic cooker, and fridge. The bathrooms have showers with screens but DO NOT have tubs, to conserve water.