Ludwig Godefroy designed the house with a strong concept of security; a safe house, made of concrete that defends and takes care of its inhabitants. The idea of the cabin as a romantic element, and the fortress, as a protective element, expresses the idea with the concrete construction in a brutalism style.
The ground floor has high windows that keep sightlines and access away from the ground-floor perimeter of the house. The interior spaces are all oriented upwards to the sky and surrounding treetops.
Built on a square plant, the spaces are configured "in half levels organized around a double height, giving the house this cathedral feeling and proportion on the inside, with light entering everywhere from the top, through those very high windows and skylights in the ceiling," said Ludwig Godefroy.
The structure seeks to be as compact as possible, with a footprint as small as possible, 81 square meters, in order to avoid a complex and costly foundation. The house is mounted on the natural slope, flying among the pines on its southwest corner, and semi-buried on its opposite northeast corner. A balanced playfully on the sloping topography, balancing the weight of the material with the weightlessness of the spaces.
Alférez House by Ludwig Godefroy Architecture. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.
Alférez House by Ludwig Godefroy Architecture. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.
In 2018, Godefroy created another fortress-like home for an oceanside retreat in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. In 2020, he completed a fractured geometric concrete home inspired by sacred Mayan roads in Mérida, Mexico.
Project description by Ludwig Godefroy Architecture
The project of the house of the Alférez Gorge takes its origin from the concept of a cabin and the romantic idea of a protective shelter in the middle of the forest; an isolated house seeking to resemble an object that would have been deposited on the ground, among the trees. The design of the house is developed based on 3 main points:
1. The project responds to the idea of an isolated house in the forest, without ever losing sight of the need for a strong sense of security; a house is a safe, made of concrete that defends and takes care of its inhabitants.
The result is a house that is characterized by its meeting of language between the idea of the cabin -a romantic element-, and the fortress -a protective element-, expressing brutalism in its concrete. The concrete comes to a close and defends the first floor, while the windows are placed out of reach to prevent a possible outside intrusion.
Alférez House by Ludwig Godefroy Architecture. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.
2. The structural project seeks to be as compact as possible, with the footprint as small as possible, in order to avoid a complex and costly foundation due to the steep slope of the terrain. The house is mounted on the natural slope, flying among the pines on its southwest corner, and semi-buried on its opposite northeast corner.
The project seeks to recreate the feeling of a cabin suspended in the natural topography of its terrain. The structure expresses a perfect balance of its foundation, generating a singular contrast between the feeling of lightness of a cabin on one side, balanced by the weight of a concrete fortress on the other.
Alférez House by Ludwig Godefroy Architecture. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.
3. The house increases its height to seek the light among the trees and at the same time a relationship with the top of those majestic pines present on the ground. Following the logic of its compact footprint of 9.5mts X 9.5mts, the purpose of the project has been to grow vertically, instead of horizontally. The vertical growth allows the house to seek light among the trees, complementing the very location of the house in the northeastern part of the lot, this part being the highest and sunniest.
The configuration of the house is developed in semi-levels around a double height, with high windows and skylights on the roof. The high volume of its double height allows us to distribute the light in all interior spaces and compensates for the loss of windows on the first floor that protects us from any intrusion.
