HOUSE ON HOUSE

The family decided to add a wooden frame and pitched roof on top of their concrete house. The dimensions and spatial organization of both houses follow a traditional spatial diagram: three even bays with an open middle area flanked by four equal rooms. In traditional houses this meant that the main space would often be used for a fire; other rooms had no fixed use and could be adapted to a family’s needs. Above the main door of the concrete house is a recessed balcony that looks onto the fields. Openings in the facade are filled with aluminum windows. The brick infill has mostly been plastered and painted white. A stair at the back leads to a second level, crowned by the traditional frame of a wooden house, that has been left unenclosed. This is often the case in traditional houses; the family smokes meats, dries crops, and stores handicrafts in this open space. The void formed by the pitched roof almost doubles the height of the top floor. The everyday activity of the family shifts between the generic concrete construction below and the traditional open structure above. The house stitches together old and new, taking what is useful from both.