This three-villa ensemble sits a few kilometers North of Bridgetown, in Western Barbados. The plot lies perfectly aligned with the East-West axis and so with the advantage of the terrain's nautral incline, the villas enjoy generous unrestricted views of the landscape and the Carribbean ocean and the setting sun.
Louis Kahn's Trenton Baths (New Jersey, 1959) was the starting point of the villas. The warm weather of Barbados allowed for a variation of Kahn's building that is truer to the original than the version we had previously explored in a house on Lake Zell (Zell am See, 2021). The limit between inside and outside could be infinitely more porous than in the harsh climate of Austria. Just a few masonry walls support the overarching wooden hip-roof.
Each villa's common areas enjoys views of the sloping landscape freckled with single homes, leading up to the ocean beyond. The rustic finish of the wooden roof is charged with supplying warmth and character to the project, and contrasts with the rough masonry walls.
In a sense the window has been obliterated from the project - every opening is a thoroughfare. Glass is hardly required. From outside the compiosition of each villa is a very well defined composition: a stark, laconic base and a pyramid roof.
