Rufo House

A house on top of a hill, just outside Toledo

“It involves building a house on top of a hill, just outside Toledo. The hill faces southwest and has a very interesting view of the distant horizon, to the northwest, all the way to the Gredos mountains.
We establish a longitudinal podium of 6 meters wide and 3 meters high, inside this long box all the functions of the house are developed. This long piece of concrete creates a long high horizontal platform, as if it were a dam that emphasizes the landscape with enormous force.
This long concrete box is both perforated and filled, creating the right amount of solid and void to suit the required functions (Patio + covered patio, kitchen, living-dining room, bedroom, patio + patio, bedroom, garage, swimming pool, bedroom, patio). And just as the living-dining room opens to the garden, the bedrooms are transformed into patios that open to the sky and garden, providing them with comfortable privacy. At the back of the living-dining room is the staircase that communicates with the upper level.

On the podium and flush with it, a canopy was built with ten concrete pillars of square section that support a simple flat roof. As if it were a ten-legged table. Under that canopy and behind the pillars, a clear glass box. To protect us from the view of the neighboring house, we planted some simple poplars.

Once again the theme of the Cabin on the Cave. Once again the theme of tectonic architecture on stereotomic architecture.

Alberto Campo Baeza