Miami based Oppenheim Architecture has collaborated with Caracas firm Croig Arquitectos on a new residential project in the Venezuelan capital. The Jungle House appears calm and confident, set within its green setting, basking under the Caracas sun.
The team explains: the design was inspired by the ragged, solid volumes of ruins that have been engulfed by jungle – an iconic image of ancient Central and South American sites. The house, made out of concrete and clad in textured local stone, creates a similar – yet thoroughly contemporary – impression, placed among verdant gardens, which also feature a shimmering, long swimming pool at the edge of the property.
Inside however, the house transforms into an elegant luxurious home, lined in bespoke joinery and HeartOak Dinesen flooring, and featuring large windows that bathe the interiors with light and open up framed views of the outdoors.
This relationship between inside and outside was key, explain the architects. ‘As you go from the kitchen to the living room, you always transit through the patio which was what the client intended,' they say. ‘This is a family home with a hub in the heart of the house where the family can gather – reading books or playing the piano.'
Natural materials and a neutral colour palette ensure the building feels serene and cocooning; while palm trees and tropical foliage outside ‘carry the sounds of the jungle', the architects add.
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