Cala House (House Layout)

Alberto Campo Baeza – Casa Raumplan, Aravaca, Madrid, Spain, 2015

The house is located on a sloping plot at ground level it does not seem to be anything special, but as soon as we go up, we enjoy the beautiful panoramic view of the urban landscape of eastern Madrid. From the four towers on the left to the tower of Madrid on the right. Beautiful and also curious. Logically the most public parts of the house will be on the upper levels to enjoy the breathtaking views.
In accordance with current regulations, we are asked to work with a 12x12 m square plan divided into four 6x6 m squares. Following this scheme, the base planes are raised, square by square, with a simple helical movement. The spaces are double height and intersect each other producing a diagonality that is also helical. The result is well explained with the proposal we have proposed, namely 2 + 2 + 2 is more than just 6.
So in this house a well-known spatial mechanism is used, the Raumplan, with the concatenation of double spaces in a spiral. Every two double spaces are connected by a vertical shift so as to create a diagonal space. If we go up, turn 90 degrees and connect it with the other two, and if we continue to go up by more than 90 degrees, we get a surprising spatial structure: the concatenation of three diagonal spaces in a spiral, just like a corkscrew, which further explains our claim that 2 + 2 + 2 is much more than 6.

Once the house is built and the appropriate openings are made, just like those of a musical instrument, so that it is filled with light, and once the instrument is tuned, we can highlight the movement of the solid light of the sun throughout the day. The roofs planted with jasmine and vines will be a delightful feature, their large spaces framing this strange landscape of Madrid. Likewise framed by creepers and jasmine will be the porches that open onto the garden.