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Thesis summary (ENGLISH):
This work is dedicated to the house La Ricarda, a work by the architect Antonio Bonet Castellana. The house is the result of a particular program that combines family life with meetings and social celebration. It is set in a landscape that is central to the way in which life and celebrations are held.
The aim of this thesis has been to record the qualities found in the house, researching from three different approaches, which have resulted in three different chapters.

The first approach was based on an unpublished document: the Correspondence between client and architect. During the 14 years of duration of the project, the architect resided in Argentina. The letters are a very special material that open up the history of the house from the point of view of the travel and the project from distance: a design based on letters that are plans and drawings to explain its construction. These letters, in turn, speak of a way of life and the education envisioned for their children, which combines artistic culture with nature. Antonio Bonet and his client, Ricardo Gomis, had never met before, but the friendship that grows between them through letters, leaves a testimony of the construction of this very exceptional project. The correspondence, kept by the Gomis family, can rebuild much of the evolution of the project, in an attempt to explain what I think happened.

A second chapter is formed by the Observation Papers, a series of registration documents of the oeuvre, made from direct observation, to measure and to draw the house as it is today. The house has not been modified or altered since it was finished in 1963, so the drawn documents have recorded the work exactly as it was built, in its original condition. Each of these documents forms a complete register on an aspect of the house, reflecting it on one piece of paper. They are hand drawings of various sizes, A1, A0 or even larger, made over several years. In addition to these plans, a model at 1:100 scale, as the one built by Bonet in 1953, was made. This model measures 1.30 x 1.39 in plan, is about 15 centimetres high, and includes the platform that forms the foundation of the house and the pine forest.

The third element of this thesis is a Calendar, drawn from the need to physically see and unfold such a long time in the history of this house, since the first proposal made by the architect, until the first years of inhabiting the house. The Calendar shows the time contained in this project, the various times that coexist in the development of the house: from the beginning to its construction, making visible the time dedicated by Bonet simultaneously to this project and other activities, other projects, trips, conferences, cultural and his personal environment.

The subtitle of the thesis, a formalized territory, aims to name the result of this close and long relationship between Antonio Bonet and his clients Gomis-Bertrand. The correspondence is defining a house to live in direct relation to the territory for raising children and having friends, where freedom of movement and action have no physical limitations, a house with no doors, “a house studied to walk through it”, as Antonio Bonet says in his first letter. The proposed house is not complete without understanding that its daily life is built on something invisible: the discipline and codes that organize and dignify a life opened to a wild and primitive natural environment, inside a pine forest, over sand dunes, nearby the sea.

Resumen de Tesis (ESPAÑOL):
Este trabajo está dedicado a la casa La Ricarda, una obra del arquitecto Antonio Bonet Castellana. La casa es el resultado de un programa muy particular que aúna vida familiar con lugar de encuentro y celebración social, combinado con un paisaje que es determinante en la manera en que esta vida y estas celebraciones se llevan a cabo. El objetivo de esta tesis ha sido registrar las cualidades encontradas en la casa, estudiándola desde tres diferentes aproximaciones. Éstas han dado lugar a tres capítulos distintos.

La primera aproximación de esta investigación fue a partir de un documento inédito: la Correspondencia entre el cliente y el arquitecto. Durante los 14 años que dura este proyecto, el arquitecto reside en Argentina. Las cartas son un material muy especial que abre la historia de la casa desde el punto de vista del viaje y del proyecto a distancia, a partir de cartas que son planos y dibujos para explicar su construcción.

Un segundo capítulo lo forman los Documentos de Observación, una serie de registros de la obra realizados a partir de la observación directa, de medir y dibujar la casa tal como está en la actualidad. Cada uno de estos documentos busca registrar por completo un aspecto de la casa, agotándolo en un mismo papel. Son planos de varios tamaños, A1, A0 o mayores, dibujados a mano durante varios años.

El tercer elemento de esta tesis es un Calendario, elaborado a partir de la necesidad de ver físicamente y desplegado el tiempo tan dilatado de la historia de esta casa, desde la primera propuesta que hace el arquitecto hasta los primeros años en que la casa está habitada.

El subtítulo de la tesis, un territorio formalizado, quiere nombrar lo que resulta de esta estrecha y larga relación entre Antonio Bonet y sus clientes, los Gomis-Bertrand. La correspondencia va definiendo una casa dónde vivir en relación directa con el territorio, donde educar a los hijos y recibir amigos, donde la libertad de circulación y actuación no tiene una limitación física, es una casa sin puertas, “una casa estudiada para que se pueda pasear por ella”, como dice Antonio Bonet en su primera carta. La casa que se proponen, no se completa sin entender que la vida diaria la construye algo invisible: la disciplina y los códigos de conducta que organizan y dignifican una convivencia abierta a un entorno natural salvaje y primitivo, en el interior de un bosque de pinos, sobre dunas de arena, a orillas del mar.