The brief was to design a house much larger than a pre-existing one. Instead, aligned with building regulations and the environmental context, we decided to preserve the illusion of a small house that did not compete with the landscape.

Since it is a weekend house in a beautiful setting, it had to be completely open to the outside. This would allow the views to become part of the house's design while generating enough ventilation to do without air conditioning. Yet the house had to have enclosures to protect it from tropical storms and to lock it down when uninhabited.

To tackle the different constraints, we borrowed three typologies from traditional Cuban architecture: the aboriginal barbacoa, where a bedroom on stilts acts as a roof for everyday activities; the Spanish patio-house, where light and ventilation come through an interior patio; and the tobacco shed, where a single texture wraps up the entire space. Thus, in B house, the ground floor's common areas exist in a space without columns because the main bedroom acts as a roof. The guest bedrooms are hidden underground while illuminated by an extended, narrow patio. Folding panels of palm wood make up the texture wrapping the house. Since the logging of palm trees is prohibited, the wood comes from dead palms and dismantled rural buildings.