Six Patio Houses | Romero Vallejo

How to deal with an extremely narrow and long plot [8.5 x 41 m] that only receives light from the two shortest sides of its perimeter? How could we fit 6 dwellings in a plot where it used to be occupied only by one? Those were the first questions we asked ourselves when we got this commission. Furthermore we wanted to provide all the houses with their own private outside space. We proposed to divide our plot in a built and an unbuilt area. The long void orientated towards the sun, brings light, ventilation and a beautiful view on the upper level. It is a green path , a collective but private patio for the houses. The specific chosen vegetation creates an scenography in this modest space due to the change in color of the plants throughout the whole year. A series of set backs have been done along the internal facade in order to achieve privacy for each house whereas the external elevation completes the urban pattern by following the rhythm of openings of the street. The variations in height and depth of the “built” area let us create different typologies. This same principle of variation is also applied in the interior space by positioning sliding walls and flexible elements in it.