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Casa 1
Casa 1
Balearic Islands, IB, Spain
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Other Projects by Fausto Ferrara
Casa 1
Balearic Islands, IB, Spain
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2022
SIZE
10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft
BUDGET
$10M - 50M
Casa 1 is an Inhabitable Work by Italian architect, artist and author Fausto Ferrara, conceived for a coastal site on the island of Formentera.
The work begins with the terrain rather than with the architectural object. The natural slope descending toward the sea becomes the generative matrix of the composition: a predominantly embedded construction whose geometry develops across three levels while reducing its volumetric presence in the landscape.
The plan opens toward the site through a controlled sequence of views, thresholds, shadows and inhabitable platforms. The more introverted functions remain protected within the lower level, while the principal living spaces establish a direct relationship with terraces, water, light and the surrounding Mediterranean landscape. Architecture and ground are therefore not treated as separate systems: Casa 1 is conceived as an act of building with the terrain rather than placing an object upon it.
This relationship is central to Ferrara's idea of the Opera Abitabile — the Inhabitable Work. The house is not conceived as an image to be consumed, nor as an exhibition of domestic status. Its scale, material presence and spatial sequence are subordinated to a different question: how architecture can return measure to the act of dwelling.
Light is controlled rather than spectacularized. Overhangs and recessed volumes produce protection and shade; the relationship between enclosed and open space is constructed through gradual passages rather than transparent exposure. Water, terraces and the surrounding terrain participate in the work as spatial elements rather than decorative additions.
With a total area of approximately 1,850 sqm and a construction value corresponding to approximately €4,890/sqm, Casa 1 demonstrates that architectural intensity does not depend on visual excess. Its scale is considerable, but its governing principle is restraint: the work seeks presence without display, protection without enclosure and a direct relation between the inhabitant, the body and the place.
Casa 1 was published in Platform Architecture and Design, issue 55 (2025), within an international issue devoted to architectural form.
The work begins with the terrain rather than with the architectural object. The natural slope descending toward the sea becomes the generative matrix of the composition: a predominantly embedded construction whose geometry develops across three levels while reducing its volumetric presence in the landscape.
The plan opens toward the site through a controlled sequence of views, thresholds, shadows and inhabitable platforms. The more introverted functions remain protected within the lower level, while the principal living spaces establish a direct relationship with terraces, water, light and the surrounding Mediterranean landscape. Architecture and ground are therefore not treated as separate systems: Casa 1 is conceived as an act of building with the terrain rather than placing an object upon it.
This relationship is central to Ferrara's idea of the Opera Abitabile — the Inhabitable Work. The house is not conceived as an image to be consumed, nor as an exhibition of domestic status. Its scale, material presence and spatial sequence are subordinated to a different question: how architecture can return measure to the act of dwelling.
Light is controlled rather than spectacularized. Overhangs and recessed volumes produce protection and shade; the relationship between enclosed and open space is constructed through gradual passages rather than transparent exposure. Water, terraces and the surrounding terrain participate in the work as spatial elements rather than decorative additions.
With a total area of approximately 1,850 sqm and a construction value corresponding to approximately €4,890/sqm, Casa 1 demonstrates that architectural intensity does not depend on visual excess. Its scale is considerable, but its governing principle is restraint: the work seeks presence without display, protection without enclosure and a direct relation between the inhabitant, the body and the place.
Casa 1 was published in Platform Architecture and Design, issue 55 (2025), within an international issue devoted to architectural form.
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