The AA House by OAB
The AA House located in Barcelona, Spain is an exercise in showing architectural movement through geometry. It was designed by the Office of Architecture Barcelona (OAB) with an undulated roof system that makes the home far from usual.
Description by OAB
The design scheme for House AA responds to simple geometric rules.
The footprint of the building uses a superimposed 7×7 meter skewed grid to support the program in a composition similar to a musical score. The diagonals serve as a roof system that ungulates like an artificial topography, creating skylights in some cases, while in others situations, rising up double the height of other rooftop peaks.
At the base floor, the program develops a direct relationship between the interior and exterior through the abundant use of glasswork, trellises, and sliding panels. This allows a visual connection to the garden for the following spaces: the rooms, halls, library, dining rooms, kitchen, main bedroom and guest suites.
Vertically consistent relationships exist between the main floor and adjacent floors, always responding to the programmatic demands, and therefore completing the three dimensional continuity of the building.
The areas on the lower floor are service areas of the main program, such as a cellar communicating directly with the dining room, a video library communicating with the library; an inside swimming pool and Turkish bath, an extension of the main bedroom, and a service flat leading directly to the kitchen areas.
The upper level serves as the Piano Nobile, or private level, from which a direct relationship to the surrounding landscape is still maintained through the use of glazing.
The layout is completed with private access to the patio. Its secluded position contrasts the luminous presentation of the house. Ceramic tiles are used as cladding on the rooftops as well as the perimeter walls. Light enters at specific points of the program where large sections of glazing complete the building.
- by Matt Watts
