Cala House – Raumplan House

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

The house is located on sloping ground level and 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 to the left to the Madrid tower on the right. Nice and even 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 required to work with a square plan of 12×12 m divided into four squares of 6×6 m. Following this scheme, the base planes are raised, square by square, with a simple helical movement. The spaces are of 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.
Thus in this house a known spatial mechanism is used, the Raumplan, with the concatenation of double spiral spaces. Every two double spaces are connected by a vertical displacement so as to create a diagonal space. If we go up, we turn 90 degrees and connect it with the other two, and if we keep going over 90 degrees, we get a surprising spatial structure: the concatenation of three diagonal spiral spaces, just like a corkscrew, which further explains our statement that 2 + 2 + 2 is much more than 6.

Once the house has been built and the appropriate openings are made, just like those of a musical instrument, so that it is full of light, and once the instrument is tuned, we can highlight the movement of the solid light of the sun to all 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 vines and jasmine will be the porches that open onto the garden.