No Comments »

Exqusite Ramped Glasshouse/Butterfly Conservancy

• Tweet

• Tweet

I love the beautifully integrated zigzag of this sloping ramp – completely encased in glass.

The glorious CAN MANA House from Atelier d’Architecture Bruno Erpicum & Partners overlooks the ocean in coastal Spain.

Its lovely sloping ramp accesses the second floor living room on a white ceramic platform.

“Nature lays down the law,” say the architects. “Its wonderful setting dominates, walls become plate glass windows. Light guides us. Trees creep through construction.”

To the right a raised pool connects the house to the vast Spanish coast beyond. “Beyond, the story of the house ends on an untouchable horizon, like all other stories.”

Completely encased in glass, the ramp gives the sense of being outdoors.

The white concrete floor bouncing back the sun makes the raised living room seem connected to the ground.

Under the living room, the entire length of the ground floor houses a spacious master bedroom cum sumptuous bathing room.
While in the back, three bedrooms use an efficient en suite design.

While one end upstairs houses the glassed-in sloping ramp, the other end houses an elevated pool accessed by an open air stair.

The bold patterning of sun and shadow makes this stair a sculptural statement.

The sudden joy of encountering this deep pool is a surprise.

It is set on a tank-like building housing the mechanical system underneath. Above; you are above it all – at one with the infinity of the sky and the limitless sea beyond.

Overlooking the pool to the city views beyond, the raised living room takes advantage of its elevation, while the bedrooms underneath have more intimate garden views.

Adjacent to the pool, a cantilevered deck allows two trees to continue to grow up through holes in its floor.

The architects describe the house as “A butterfly conservatory, the key thrown away: a space defined by the transparency of the windows, an infinite space where thoughts take flight at the whim of imagination.”