Unifying spaces

By Aksa

Photography: Courtesy Caramel Architects

Read Time: 2 mins

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Caramel Architects champions the concept of transparency and movement in their project ‘mill24’ at Vienna, where architecture can be seen hovering between the inside and the outside…

Ensconced in a compact neighbourhood, the concept of transparency in this home gives the illusion of vastness in an otherwise predefined composition.

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The home has almost all rooms at different levels and opening up in various directions, giving a distinctive quality to the place, resulting in a natural aesthetic. Since the roof showed a possibility of expansion, it now accommodates a roof garden, which incidentally, has become the take-off point of the design.

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Treated as the focus, the garden has all rooms being accessed from it, integrating openness in the design. Mesh screens and transparent walls and doors allow simultaneous perception of spaces as the living, dining, kitchen etc., are connected to the outside via glazed doors and walls; the only enclosed spaces being the bedrooms and home office.

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The volumetric organization of spaces and their spatial continuity augment the inside-outside equation, which incorporates 172.29 sq. m. of living spaces and 71.96 sq. m. of terraces. All materials and elements used endorse openness, lightness and reflection; releasing spatial tension in rhythmic order.

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Starting from the glazed doors and walls, fair-faced surfaces of the materials used, allow permeability, lightness and reflection. Framework is castoff thin shell concrete, and a light grey synthetic top layer is used for the roof and balustrades. The flooring comprises of smoothed, transparent, varnished screed having coloured sealants in the washrooms. Even the colours incorporated are tones of whites, blues and greens, all affirming the sense of openness. A staircase enclosed with mesh screens allows circulation at all levels.

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This project has brought the two opposites ‘Nature and Architecture’ together, diminishing the tension between the spaces, and developing memorable spaces throughout the structure.