Casa CAFM
CAFM House is situated in a residential compound where apartment buildings rise right next to private houses, separated only by a street. This implies an unhindered insight between the two if no other measures are taken.
The inhabitants of CAFM House are a chef and an economist who share a profound affinity for all sensual experiences and a vast record of their trips together. It was this sensual abundance that inspired us to realize a project that would reconstruct the connection we make with spaces and that is nurtured by our unique and personal experiences.
In this project we wanted to materialize the vision of the inhabitants and their relation to the places they have visited and which form part of their identity.
The original idea for the project is developed around four simple and strong volumes with strong materiality and tectonics, bringing us closer to nature. The central courtyard works as an axis connecting the two spaces. It is an element of great dynamics and diverse perspectives that contributes to the inhabitants’ experiences.
The street facade features a split, accentuating the division between the two volumes, creating a sensation to the entrant of the passing from public to private space, from exterior to interior, from noise to tranquility; making the entrance a transition through a mute and solid facade into a profound, personal and transparent interior.
Our architectural intention has an even more ambitious objective, the search of singularity: each space generates its own, unique connection with the exterior, obeying specific situations and demands.
As Juhani Pallasmaa states, "Architecture is the art of reconciliation between ourselves and the world, and this mediation takes place through the senses."
With this vision in mind, our project is characterized by a search for light and transparency, to create a relation between interior an exterior and an invitation to contemplation. Yet this search is conducted without the scarification of intimacy.
The windows give a sense of extensiveness without revealing too much of the interior. In the same way the solid blocks are protecting privacy.
The ultimate goal in our search for experiences to our inhabitants is tranquility. The ability to feel like a part of the world but with an own, private recess, only to themselves.
