Alberto Campo Baeza

To build a well-balanced house full of light and shade.

We built very tall, 8 meter high, walls around a 33 x 18 meter rectangle and covered the central strip, 9 x 18 meters. We raised the ceiling of the 9 x 9 central square to the same height as the 8 meter high outside walls. To fill this central space with shade, we opened it to the front and back, creating 3 meter deep porches that protect these openings from the sun, tempering the light. To either side, bedrooms and baths.

In the front courtyard, the entrance to the house, four orange trees mark the central and main axis, flanked by low walls that hide service areas. In the back courtyard, another four orange trees are similarly aligned. And at the end, carved into the ground, a trough like pond stretches from side to side.

The house is the construction of a luminous shadow.