This project arises from the commission of a young family who challenged us to design their home at the foot of the Sierras Chicas, in Molino de Viento, Mendiolaza, Córdoba.

Conditions:
We had to create a single-level home on a steeply sloped site, while respecting the entirety of the native forest, capturing the views, and adapting to the needs of a child with special motor skills, who inspired us to design Casa Paula.

The project:
It is conceived in two simple and parallel volumes, connected by a circulation core, one containing the social area and the other the private area. These volumes are strategically positioned, considering daytime and nighttime uses, views, orientations, and minimizing impact on the native forest, as the trees were the structural elements of the space. Additionally, a library volume, reading room, submerged in nature and detached from the house, was proposed, seeking tranquility and views for reading.

Access to the home is through a vehicular ramp that spans the entire length of the terrain, allowing access to the house and the family library, which was conceived with the idea of Bibi giving reading talks and hosting people.

Access to the house is under a volume that floats on the mountainside. Through a courtyard of native trees with a ramp that gently reveals the entrance to the house, where a foyer welcomes us and distributes to the social or private area.

The Social area:
We find a large space that shows us a longitudinal integration of the living room, dining room, kitchen, gallery, and yard, all contained by the view. It is like an observation deck where the limit is the valley and its mountains.

The Private Area:
We can find a corridor overlooking a courtyard filled with native trees, offering views of the east and leading to the bedrooms of the house, with views of the valley, a fundamental constraint we set for ourselves.

The Materials:
They are noble, rustic, and visible. We can find stone, wood, concrete, iron, and glass, looking for an integration with the existing landscape.

Sustainability:
We aimed to have the existing flora that we removed when placing the volumes on the mountain resurface on the house's roof to have the least environmental impact. This provides us with better sun control over the house. Additionally, we proposed water collection tanks, as the area suffers from water scarcity.

Casa Paula is a project that responds to the new trends in architecture, seeking greater sustainability, adaptability, connectivity, and well-being. The house integrates with the natural environment, using noble and ecological materials, and recovering native flora on the roof. The house adapts to the family's needs, offering open, modular, and multifunctional spaces that can be transformed according to different situations and uses. The house connects with technology, incorporating home automation and renewable energy systems, which allow optimizing and controlling all aspects of the home. The house cares about health and well-being, ensuring good air quality and lighting, and creating outdoor spaces, such as terraces and gardens, that invite to enjoy nature and relax. The house is an observation deck and a life nest for this family, reflecting their personality, values, and dreams.