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A Light-Filled House in Toledo, Spain Where Patios Have Nobility

02.28.20 | By
A Light-Filled House in Toledo, Spain Where Patios Have Nobility

OOIIO Architecture have completed a single-family home, GAS House, in Toledo, Spain. Their clients, a young couple, wanted a bright home built on a plot where natural light was not particularly abundant. Therefore, OOIOO’s team had to organize the house around four patios strategically placed on the site to serve as light wells and for natural ventilation.

Each of the patios’ height changes depending on its function of “nobility” as the architects called it. A more intimate, personal function, like the living-dining area, is the most noble and therefore the highest patio on the plot. The lowest, meanwhile, is the garage.

Looking at the traditional patios of La Mancha, the architects found that the lower parts of the patios were made by ceramic baseboards.

In this modern house, the architects have decided to reverse it and put the ceramic at the bottom: the patios are covered by hexagonal ceramic pieces so that when light falls through the courtyards, it falls with a certain distinct, eye-catching visual personality.

Photography by Josefotoinmo.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.