Architecture

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Our home, la Quinta Melena, is built on the heights of La Lagunita above Caracas.

The Spanish Colonial and Provençale styles blend with an interlocking timber structure.

The layout allows staggering so that the building can be adapted to the terrain slope.

The spaces flow from one to another with as few doors and corridors as possible.

Adornment is kept to a bare minimum so as to bring out the atmosphere of the spaces.

A 'Gothic' staircase leads up to the workshop. Cooking is done on a traditional 'anafre'.

The modern, utilitarian kitchen is tucked away behind the fridge, under the stairs.

The stairway down to the bedrooms is made of interlocking timbers as are the roof trusses.

The bedrooms have that particular atmosphere of colonial dwellings in the tropics.

Ample terraces provide shade to the bedrooms and a transition space to feel outdoors.

The Provençal 'crépi' gives the wall surfaces a warm tone and doesn't require paint.

The spaces are cross ventilated from the windows at front to openings at the back.

The rooms draw on the Shaker tradition for a sense of harmony through austere simplicity.

An inner well with a tree growing in it provides light and air to the lower areas.

Upstairs is the workshop for modelling and designing. It opens onto a panoramic view.

The cross-ventilation built in to the spaces keeps all areas cool and relatively dry.

At all levels the relationship with the landscapeis is part of the feel of the place.

Broad overhangs provide shelter from the heat and allow for large panoramic windows.

Our family home in La Lagunita