A steel staircase outside this renovated summerhouse in eastern Spain spirals up onto a roof terrace with a view of the sea.

Entitled PC House, the residence was completed earlier this year by Spanish studio Xavier Vilalta Architects (XVA).

Long rectangular skylights increase natural daylight in the hallways and kitchen area, plus glass doors open the living room up to the garden and patio at the rear.

If you like looking at dreamy holiday homes, see also a bunker sunk into the Portuguese landscape and a cliff-top house near Sydney.

Photography is by David Cabrera.

Here's some more explanation from Xavier Vilalta:

PC House

PC House is a summerhouse for a family in a 60s Mediterranean town’s neighborhood, on a site few meters far away from the beach.

The intervention renews the house updating the aesthetics concept, reinforcing the interior-exterior relationship, improving its comfort quality.

It is a new image for a summerhouse for the family.

The renewal was done maintaining the existing structure and the position of the windows and eliminating all the previous accessories such as arcs and reliefs.

Several operations were to increase the height of the walls to create a new proportion and a new terrace overlooking the sea and to extend the height of the windows to increase lightening and ventilation and air circulation inside the house.

The new terrace is connected with the renewed garden by a steel tube staircase.

Additionally, we decided to do two skylights strategically positioned on the entrance and on top of the kitchen to provide natural light to the only spaces without direct communication with the exterior.

The living room is opened to the garden through a big sliding window and by extending its pavement from inside to outside, extending its proportions and to be in direct contact with nature of a garden with an existing prominent Mediterranean pine tree, a comfortable shaded space to enjoy with the family.

Location: Vilafortuny, Spain
Use: Private house
Completion: February 2011
Total Built Area: 200㎡
Client: Quim Piqué, Tània Calafell

XVA – Xavier Vilalta Architects

Partner in charge: Xavier Vilalta
Design Team: Núria Navarro, Maria Rosaria Favoino
Project Manager: Xavier Capdevila
Contractor: Ferre Construcciones, SL