Two overlapping houses.

Upstairs, the everyday house, the conventional program for typified actions and for typical use, intimacy and the family nucleus. Bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room and tv/library/multimedia.

Below, the private space, which reveals the identity of the people who occupy the house. A set of interconnected spaces that allow a versatility of functions and, if necessary, some autonomy of the upper house. To receive guests, work, “summer house”, be, play… The needs of a family that evolves and a house  that follows the evolution.

We accentuate this difference, separating physically and conceptually these two houses.

We enter at a slightly higher elevation, so the base of the house appears as if excavated from the land and takes on the idea of a rougher and harder material, making the contour of the lot, shaping the outdoor space. The introduction of this new base changes the existing relationship of the access to the house, redirecting the pedestrian entrance to a more lateral area of the land, through a garden, giving access to the main covered entrance and the back patio.

On top of this base, the house rests in an “immaculate”, light, elegant way with a more delicate detail. A composition of windows is worked on a pure volume, alternating between larger and smaller openings. It removes the weight of the two-story volume and creates different sensations in the use of spaces. The exception is the balcony of the living room, a recessed element of a large window which fits into the base. It is projected over the land to the trees in the garden.