Mariapfarr House

The house occupies a portion of land in an already built plot. The existing house (parents) and the new one (sons), must maintain a reasonable level of privacy, despite sharing the joint use of the courtyard, and without establishing a physical boundary between the two parcels. Taking advantage of the gentle cross slope of the plot, the new house is placed in a slightly lower level than the existing one. The ground floor is protected from view by the retaining wall that spans the gap between the two houses, so it can be fully glazed, in constant relationship with the court by porches. The upper floor, exposed to view, is developed in an essentially opaque prism, concentrating all the openings in a gallery facing south. The sharp contrast between the lightness and transparency of the ground floor and the weight of the upper floor, along with large porches and cantilevers and the continuous relationship between interior and exterior, are the main formal features of the project.