This House Behind A Bamboo Forest Reveals A Mysterious Cinema | Manila, Philippines

The clients wanted a house where the garden felt as big as possible. This was the basic premise with which we started the design. My name is Carlos Crespo and I am the architect of Casa Luma. When we arrived at Casa Luma, the first thing that is very apparent is the brick. A brick that, from the beginning, was thought to be able to be used both inside and outside. A wooden marimba that flies over the main access. And at the entrance, a gardener left the space to plant a peach tree that would give fruit to the people who arrive, to the users or to the family, before they opened the door. Which is this black, metallic door, with a height of 1.5 meters. When you enter the house, the visual finish is very marked. Very full of green. There, in short, on the right hand, we have a space that the clients requested so that it was a place of work that could function as a workshop for them. Continuing down the corridor, you reach the space of the living room. And then the dimension explodes. These double-height windows are placed, which flood the space with natural light. You immediately perceive how the space is made up not only of the living room, but also of the living room, the dining room and the kitchen. From the beginning, the clients requested that it be so, because they wanted to privilege family coexistence. In terms of materiality, the main actor in this case is the brick, which was manufactured especially for the house. It has a roughness and some characteristics that add much more character and much more life to the spaces. The brick was manufactured in a company called Vinza, in which they gave us the best treatment that can be given to a person. They were very accessible in letting us select the color, the texture, the size and the model. The result was a material that the whole family enjoys. The apparent concrete and the metal elements painted in black give this appearance of an open structure, a very honest structure. The house is made of what is seen to be made. The fireplace is a double-height volume. It adds a lot of enjoyment to the living room. The fire gives you a smell, it gives you a view, it gives you warmth. You can hear the embers when they jump out of the fire. It is the best. It is the best to gather around the fire with the family. From the beginning, the request was for the garden to feel as large as possible. We had to take advantage of different resources, such as the entrenchment, which is perceived in the background and is what gives it more depth. From there on, some larger trees begin to come to make the user feel that the garden is very deep, when in reality it is not so much. Next to the garden is the terrace area, which from the beginning was designed for something that cannot be missing here in the north of the country, which is the barbecue. It was intended that the pool had a natural shape, that it had waterfalls, that it emulated nature. And from the jacuzzi to the pool, a flying rock was incorporated, which allows children to jump into the pool and cool off in a fun way. The rock was selected in neighboring ranches, to which permission was asked to enter and take the rocks. And it was placed by hand, one by one, to give this natural look to the pool and the jacuzzi. Going up to the upper floor, the first thing we find on the left are the two secondary rooms, each with a dressing room and a bathroom. The television room is located in the center of the second floor and was designed as a play area, and has this visual connection with the lower part. Crossing this space is the entrance to the main bedroom. It is a bedroom with large dimensions. From here you have a beautiful view of the garden, as well as the surroundings of the house. From the television room you can see a snail staircase, which leads us to a small studio at the top. And it is a small space, it feels very cozy, it is quite comfortable. Now that I am here in Casa Luma, I realize that the project worked, that the goal was achieved, which was to make the family happy. And we are very happy with that.