Full moon
The sun
An outside room extends the residence for a shade-filled home, nestled against the north face of a volcano. The new carved-out room is rectangular, the same size as the living room. A vine will eventually cover it and, like any room, it has both a door and windows. The main one gives onto a semicircular courtyard with a pond, which is an opening to the sky, the sun and the moon. It is a courtyard courtyard. This formalisation expands the space between the house and the mountain, tripling the number of hours that the sun warms the main rooms.
The moon
A curved arm holds a spherical 40 cm lamp that orbits the outside room. The semicircular window creates tension in the boundary between the two spaces, turning the semicircular courtyard into a large reflecting lamp. In the middle, at the centre of the room, the light creates an intimate atmosphere around the table. Located against the wall, the projecting semi-sphere provides light and highlights the plaster texture, typical of the cheap 1950s houses in this neighbourhood.
The outside room – 3.6 x 5.0 m – shares the construction systems, materials and language of all the houses in this district. The curved wall is a recurring feature in the neighbourhood’s planning and development as a solution for retaining walls, as is the use of brick arches and vaults to cover the buildings. Like the surrounding houses, all wall facings are rough rendered in white cement. The doors and polished stainless-steel accessories contribute to accentuating the texture of the walls.
The ground of the room is a carpet of round marble pieces, with a combination of four colours and three different diameters. In the middle of the room, one piece is pierced to act as a drain. The marble is embedded in quartz sand mortar and then the floor is finished via polishing, buffing and waterproofing processes. The same type of mortar was used to prefabricate the steps and bar for the barbecue.
To increase the feeling of depth and highlight the concave shape, the back of the courtyard was embedded with letters that form a text. They were leftover letters from producing a sculpture, reproducing a verse from Catalan poet Joan Salvat-Papasseit's poem "La casa que vull" (The House I Want). The pond reflects the letters, as if it were a bottomless well. Indeed, it is a tank that collects the rainwater from the house's roof, which is reused later for watering. The presence and murmur of the water creates a refreshing atmosphere in the summer.
Material Used:
- Flooring: Precast steps and kitchenette, Marbres Coll
- Lighting: Opal glove, design by unparelld’arquitectes, Estiluz
- Lighting: Revolving lamp, design by unparelld’arquitectes, Estiluz
