Casa Patio, an intimate hideout in Andalucia
Casa Patio (Patio House) is a renovation project of a small apartment in the historic center of Cordoba. Located in the Axerquía neighborhood, next to the Corredera, the Plaza de las Cañas, it gets its name because it housed the game of canes, of Moorish origin.
Among churches, palm trees, schools and terraces, the neighbors of the neighborhood meet, surrounded by buildings from the beginning of the 20th century, with typical characteristics of Andalusian architecture of that time. The project is located in one of these buildings, where the typical Cordovan central patio is the distributive space to access the 11 houses that make up the community of neighbors, being the common roof terrace a place of encounter and development of domestic work (such as drying laundry). The common spaces mostly preserve the original finishes, such as the colorful tiles of local manufacture.
In just 30 m2 “Patio House” has 4 balconies, two overlook the square, with views of date palms, ginkgos and jacarandas and two to the patio full of refreshing vegetation. Light is the protagonist of the spaces, drawing shadows and reliefs in every corner.
At a spatial level, the distribution has been reduced to a minimum, joining living room, kitchen and dining room in a single space that overlooks the square. Bathroom and bedroom overlook the patio and have a more intimate character. All these elements revolve around the sofa designed and made in brick partition wall, as well as the kitchen, elements recovered from rural architectural culture.
The materials used are traditional: baked clay floor in bathroom and bedroom, macael marble on kitchen countertop and natural plaster for smoothing walls. The original hydraulic tile floor, commonly used during the first half of the 20th century, present in the daytime area of the house, has been preserved and valued.
