Casa 144º
Building on a complex and fragile site — a forested hillside — brings questions we keep asking ourselves: How do we settle into a sloping terrain without disrupting the landscape? Most neighbouring houses seek to occupy the largest possible footprint, altering the surroundings to the maximum. We reject the hypocrisy of a continuist aesthetic of white walls that conceals concrete structures, major earthworks, and forced air conditioning.
The house is developed on a single storey, set at the midpoint of the plot and supported by a lightweight steel structure. In plan, the house traces a broken line forming a 144º angle, orienting the cantilevered end towards the mountain views.
This is a dry construction built on a sincere and environmentally responsible logic. It is a near-zero energy consumption house that combines unusual materials — such as steel sheet — with highly efficient ones, such as timber.
The main structure consists of prefabricated timber-frame walls assembled on site with a lightweight timber beam floor system. One end of the house is embedded into the hillside, while the other cantilevers over it, supported by four galvanised steel columns braced with X-cross ties to minimise their section. A galvanised steel sheet envelope protects the timber beneath. The windows cut into the façade as large, frameless openings that, from the outside, dematerialise the house.
In contrast to the exterior, the interior is warm: the timber structure is left exposed and defines simple, clear spaces. The living room projects as a cantilever towards the landscape, while at the opposite end, a studio is located in the basement, lit from above by a series of skylights.
