The Caiana House had, from the very beginning, premises very well defined by the clients: a house that is functional, easy to live in. The use of reinforced concrete, precast concrete furniture, big openings, open spaces that give value to the surrounding landscape, were all almost obvious consequences of these premises. Designing every detail according to the necessities and preferences of the owners made the project assume a unique identity. The layout of the spaces, the finishes, the furniture design, the window frames, the lighting and
landscaping were carefully thought out by Studio Papaya.

With a relatively simple program, there was no need for a two storey house. However, due to the desire of valuing the surrounding landscape, together with the slope of 3 meters of the plot, the house was elevated 2.85 meters from the street level, making possible the optimisation of circulations inside and around the house as a whole, while turning the free space left under the house, on the street level, into a garage.

The starting point of the plan is the central patio. A perforated metal plate, barely touching the sloped terrain, gives the sensation of an elevated patio, connecting it with the street level on the East side by a perforated metal stair. A corridor of circulation, passing on all of the plot from South to North, connects all the spaces of the house: starting with the main access, on one side there are the office, bathroom, bedrooms and laundry, and on the other side the patio and home cinema. On the front area of the house, the living room is facing the street and the surrounding landscape with a big opening, and the dining room is opened towards the kitchen. Moreover, the flat roof made possible the creation of a terrace, accessed by a stair which became almost a sculpture in the living room.

The elevation of the house in relation to the street level and the preservation of the natural topography of the terrain, together with the use of a big perforated metal plate in the central area and the big openings, work as a thermic solution, making possible the constant natural air flow in the house. The clients wanted the finishings to be as raw as possible, so all the walls, both internal and external, are of apparent concrete, with the exception of flooring details in the dining area and bedrooms, as well as the walls of the bathrooms, where mid height hexagonal tiles were used. The home cinema, being the only common area completely closed by four walls, was highlighted by the use of colored and textured concrete, that together with the thick landscape and indirect lighting complete the external scenography of the house.