THE Lopez House seems to capture the vivacity and setting of a suburban garret; a compact prairie house fitting for the modern Filipino landscape.
Designed by architect Ned Carlos, the house was commissioned by Manila residents as one of their vacation houses. The architect’s design reproduces an out-of-town penthouse set facing the grassland of Tinayunan, 116 kilometers of Dumaguete City.
At first sight, the house looks like a single-family residence: a predictable design within a simple contemporary building surrounded by a generous savannah. However, the architect turned the house into an assemblage of “architectural glints” conceived for the pleasure of its occupants. At only 160 square meters, the house is compact and enclosed with white plain surfaces and raw concrete, producing spectacular minimalist effects and assuring the evenness of the composition.
The architect plays with rough and smooth surfaces, some concrete walls raw and unpainted, corner windows large and small, hardwood and metal blend. The prime objective was to bring in the outside into a private space full of minimalist aesthetic for the luxury of the occupants. These are the unpretentious but foremost countryside work of the architect.
The inspiration of the German gurus of the modern movement (Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Bruno Taut) can be perceived in the geometric rigor, kind of finish selected and composition of the openings. The way the house is built is stringently planned according to light and white walls united with the expansive windows. With unadorned materials and minute embellishment, the architect allows light and links the spaces to be the characters of an eloquent base that is fashioned from humble silhouettes with a prevalence of right angles and verticalness.
A modern “little house on the prairie,” the architect’s design claims an echo of the inner city lifestyle of its occupants and the true liberty of light and space in a suburban setting.