Final+Project

A punctual element is a type of building that is organized spatially and structurally around a certain point or component inside the building itself. The clients, a young couple, have specified that they want a small beach house that refers exactly to this type or spatial organization. They require a quiet and open space for them to spend weekends.

They are both just graduating from design school and want a clean and simple house where they can show their designs. They also want a habitable rooftop where they can watch the beach from another perspective. Their hobbies consist in several aquatic sports.

The house will be placed in a lot at the coast line, in front of a square limited by 6 meters height buildings and the mountain range. The building has to organize five different spaces, where at least one of them has a triple height (9 meters) and another has a double height (6 meters). The project has to take into account the specifications of the clients and the context in which is placed.

There is a vertical element supporting all the structure and organizing the five spaces inside the building. This element accentuates the punctual character of the house and creates a focal point. Because of the couple’s requirements, I have decided to put the house directly inside the water, leaving the frontal façade as a connection to the square. This particular characteristic gives the house a good differentiation from the other buildings of the city.

According to the context and the size of the lot, the house has to be dimensioned in a cube of 12 m3. There are two main visual aspects that have to be considered: the mountain range and the shore, therefore the house is spatially organized in such a way that those visuals are always powerful,.

Because the context is tropical and the weather is very warm, I have decided to make the house out of precast concrete and glass. All the structure of the house is based on bearing walls and some openings supported by posts and lintels.

The first floor or “piano nobile” it’s a very open space where light travels freely and connects the square with the ocean. This first floor can be used as a sort of gallery because of all the clean and extended walls. The second floor is a horizontal space that can be used as a living room or even a kitchen. The main and only bedroom of the house is located on the third floor. The fourth floor it’s also an extension of the bedroom and presents a unique view of one side of the beach. At last, there is the habitable rooftop that makes a clear connection between the beach and the mountain range.

This project establishes all sort of paths and pools of light that make the space dynamic and fresh. It creates a place where the clients can spend their time as quiet as possible, but also having very wonderful landscapes to discover and a connection to the city that everyone would envy.

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