House under a big roof
A square plan is deliberately cut, achieving a clear separation between public and private programs. The straightforward simplicity of the living room contrasts with the intricate geometries and reasonable kinks of bedrooms and bathrooms. An erotic duality was proposed.
The materiality of the inside spaces is both gentle and explicit. Thin wooden beams that support the blue ceiling are kept exposed; the wood floors follow different directions and detached doors and cabinetry accent different spatial transitions. The intelligent symmetry of the living room outlines three defined moments for the family: cooking, eating, living. The sloped high ceiling unbalances the symbolic main space.
Floating in a beautiful garden, between neighbour’s sheds and fences, the outside expression of the house is solved within a number of carefully placed elements: a blue chimney facing the street, a tall main door suggesting a ceremonial entrance, a proud concrete beam crowning the construction. A set of square windows composes the four white elevations. The generous sloped roof is covered with a playful pattern of traditional ceramic tiles. The figure of the house is detached from the ground with a line of black and white tiles, softly dissociating itself from the soil it occupies.
The clients requested a house that ‘looked like a house’; the project tackled the definition of ‘houseness’. The concise vocabulary and the precise grammar of the project outline some sort of ‘challenged vernacular’; an architecture of familiarity and confusion.
