Borda garaikidea Ataunen / Contemporary Borda in Ataun

The traditional basque huts (Borda) usually made of raw wood and/or stones were used to shelter animals and to store grass, straw, etc. They were often located in higher areas than the residence, with a ground and an upper level.
The ground floor is a shelter for cattle, called "ikullu". The upper level, on the other hand, is used to store the grass.
The "Borda" was generally located in the mountains, on land owned by the farmer or on pastures.
Farmers used to sleep on the Borda, for example, when they fear that wild boars could cause damage to plantations.
In many Bordas, the owners have gone to live in and, eventually, have become farmhouses.
Many of these huts became farmhouses between the XVII centuries (1640) and XVIII.

BORDAK is a project that takes the basque huts as an excuse to talk about the relationship between the built elements and the rural / natural environment. This project is promoted by Atari, a cultural Association which aim is to bring basque architecture closer to all audiences.

Arquimaña was commissioned to design and build a temporary basque hut and give it a contemporary perspective. This construction would be built in a weekend workshop by a group of volunteers and Arquimaña themselves on december 2020.

The borda is located in Ataun, a small village of the Basque Country, in a natural environment near Agauntza river. Ataun due to its mountainous sorrounding has the highest number of bordas that are preserved to this day.

The design is divided in two levels to preserve the essence of the originals.
The ground floor has a circular bench to gather any visitor around a fire and give a sense of communal space, or just sit looking inside out and observe the sorroundings.
You can acces the upper floor through a ladder to a space where just two people fit inside.
This space receives light through a transparent dome in the ceiling, which reflects in the gold lined wall of the inside, and was designed as a more intimate and thoughtful space to observe the trees, the sky, the weather or the stars.
To facilitate access to the site, the design was divided in mutiple pieces of pine plywood that were cut by cnc in a local carpentry and could be easily mounted without any other help but a handtool.
The upper level is covered outside with cork and felt in order to use soft and natural materials that could be worked by hand .
In order to leave the smaller footprint possible, a screwable foundation was used so once the borda is disassembled it is possible to unscrew them and leave the ground as it was.
The borda was built while Ernest and Dora storms were passing by Iberian peninsula, and they reminded us the toughness of building in nature :)

Video: Mikel Blasco