Casa La Paz / Ludwig Godefroy Architecture

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It is precisely at this point that the balance between destruction and preservation had to be found. The house had to allow the land to enter—the project had to become permeable, never interrupting the topography. In this way, the land could continue to express itself and evolve, moving from its relationship with the creek into a new relationship that includes the house—placing the house between those two original elements without trying to tame either the land or the creek.The CasaLa Pazprojectproposes to invert the traditional house model, flipping its common scheme of a house with a garden in order to createa garden with its house. By making the external element an integral part of the living space, the house and its garden cease to be two distinct entities and merge into a single, unified element. The fusion of interior and exterior generates a sense of expansiveness in the habitable space of the house.Casa La Pazis a house conceived from its negative space. Let me explain: rather than starting from the design of the built living spaces—the positive space of the house—the project was conceived in reverse, beginning with this void that defines the garden. This garden space is the crucial element that protects the house and all of its interior spaces, serving as a buffer between the house, the street, and its surroundings.Casa La Pazinverts the traditional scheme of a house with its garden to createa garden with its house.This new permeability between the garden and the house erases the classic hermetic border between inside and outside, leading to the creation of a unique, habitable garden. To realize this idea of a garden/house, the key was to preserve and work with the original essence of the land and its topography, ensuring its identity would be maintained and transferred to the house itself.The house appears as a collection of pavilions, creating multiple corners and, thus, multiple atmospheres. It's a small house, but composed of multiple spaces where people can coexist in the same place without always being aware of each other's presence.But how can the land's identity be transferred to the house without destroying it during construction?This large void controls the views from neighboring properties, allows the house to open up, and generates a strong sense of interiority in the garden. A sense of well-being envelops each space of the house, which is nestled among tall organ pipe cacti, thick elephant trees, and twisted desert bushes.TheCasa La Pazproject, by embracing the topography and allowing it to remain, seeks to preserve the feeling that existed when walking the untouched land for the first time. It is designed like a walk through the land and, by extension, through the house. The house isn't static; it invites people to move, to explore, and to enjoy the land as it changes throughout the day, under the action of successive lights.The project encourages living outdoors; therefore, it eliminates the fundamental architectural element of the façade. It proposes a house organized around a large void—without a façade—that does not create an enclosure. The house is permanently open and ventilated, yet it still meets the basic needs for protection and privacy of its inhabitants.By responding in this way to the reality of the land, the conventional idea of what would normally be a living room has been redefined. The entire ground floor, its garden, and every single tree become one large open living area. There is no longer any distinction between interior and exterior. The garden becomes the living room, kitchen, and dining room in their entirety.There was a subtle preexisting relationship between the land and a dry creek on the south side, where both were merging. The challenge of the project was to integrate the house into the topography of the land without disrupting this preexisting connection between the land and its creek.