Casa de Luna & Alon

Location: Lambare, Paraguay
Area: 95m²
Year: 2001
Role: Architect, Owner’s husband, Builder
Photography: Luis Ayala, AIA

The house sits within a private master-planned golf community with lush vegetation and beautiful scenery. The masterplan restricted the construction of demising walls between lots, so everyone could have access to the golf course. This presented a problem of privacy and intimacy.

The main idea of this project was to bury it, protecting western orientations from the sun, and to roof it with a shallow mass of water, which will reflect sun exposure.

The site at which this 95 square meter house is located has a 3-meter rise from the street to the back of the lot. Massive earth movement allowed the building to sit at street level while developing toward its depth, giving the impression of it emerging from the earth. A user promenade lets spaces to be slowly discovered. An intimate sunken garden is revealed by this movement, with all interior spaces opening towards its direction, entirely secluded from neighboring views. The garden focal point is celebrated with two grown-up native trees known as “ybyrapyta,” recognized by their deep redwood and yellow flowers in spring.