Casa Calma

Brief

The clients asked for a house that would feel cool at three in the afternoon without a single air-conditioning unit. We started with the sun path, not the floor plan, and let the courtyard set the order of every room.

Section

Thick lime-plaster walls carry the roof and hold the night air well into the day. Windows sit at the inner face of the wall, so each opening becomes a deep, shaded frame rather than a pane of glass.

“We drew the shadow line on the courtyard floor before we drew a single wall.”

Material

Local lime, cork-oak shutters and a floor of hand-made terracotta tiles laid without sealant. Everything can be repaired by a village builder with ordinary tools.