Two sisters entrust us the construction of two houses as a home for their growing families. The houses will be like their owners, siblings. Arranged next to each other they show evident features in common but present different personalities.
The ‘sibling houses’ follow equivalent design processes. A system of white concrete walls organizes the lower floors, defining this way a path of flowers at the entrance, open gardens to south and playgrounds to north.
In the first floor two ‘dissimilar’ objects rest on the walls, completing the building and giving a specific character to each house.
One uses natural wood in the large frames of its facades, turning this way the windows into paintings of the landscape outside. The other house uses this material in the interior, organizing the spaces around a wooden core that acts as the heart of the house.
This nucleus not only comprehends the circulation area that connects the three levels of the house, but also a series of storage spaces and services hidden behind a continuous birch panelling. This solution wraps the staircase, doors and cabinets, giving them a unitary appearance.
Linked by the wooden core, both the day areas on the ground floor and the night spaces on the upper floor open to the exterior through large glazed panels. In this regard, the material continuity of the ceilings and floors finishes aims to blur the boundaries of the house with the outdoors.
In the sibling house, however, the large timber frames and panels define the limits of the house, framing the landscape and incorporating it into the interior space.
In contrast with the forceful presence of the exterior wooden elements, the interior spaces are characterized by the employment of neutral lines and either white or transparent walls, which turns them into a customizable canvas for its inhabitants.
The value of these houses, like the sisters, is strengthened by being together, always one in relation to the other, turning two apparently individual projects into one with a dual character.
