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Architects: VOID
- Area: 335 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Andres Garcia Lachner
Text description provided by the architects. Located in San José, Costa Rica, Casa Patio is a tribute to traditional colonial design where houses open up to an interior patio and common areas surround it.
The volumetry is created by separating two volumes that house the public and private programs, connected by a central patio, hence its name. Thanks to this approach, the residence manages to integrate into the existing vegetation and explores the typology of the courtyard house. The layout also allows residents to inhabit the spaces independently, as a perimeter hallway connects the different rooms.
The project proposes constant openness towards the central patio, designed with native species. The characteristic door windows framing the perimeter of the patio from within the volumes provide views, making the patio the soul of the house. This connection, facilitated by large windows, promotes cross ventilation in all rooms and the use of natural light. The choice of color palette and materials makes vegetation the main element in the overall composition of the house.
The white walls enhance illumination in the spaces, resulting in lower electricity consumption. This, along with other passive strategies like collecting and storing rainwater for garden irrigation and using local materials and labor for furniture design, make Casa Patio an example of sustainable architecture influenced by local vernacular architecture.
"We like architecture to reveal itself through unique and congruent solutions to the specific conditions of each project, and to contribute in terms of place, context, user, and our own architectural curiosity."
The patio permeates all the rooms of the house with the intention of allowing vegetation to take over, in search of a tranquil, restorative, and serene refuge.
