Zafiros Residence

The house belongs to its region rather than to a style magazine: ochre stucco, clay tile laid over exposed timber rafters, and veined stone piers that carry the terrace. Nothing was imported for effect.

The section is where the house spends. Deep eaves throw the walls into shade through the worst of the afternoon; the covered terrace between the two wings is wide enough to be a room, and it faces the pool rather than the street. Upstairs the volumes pull back so that shade survives on the terrace below.

Indoors the timber keeps going: beamed ceilings, wood floors, and a mezzanine gallery that looks back down into the double height. Small square clerestories carry light along the wall without opening it to the sun.

The garden is the other half of the plan — lawn, river-stone paths, a reclining stone figure on its own plinth, and the pool turning the corner to bring water to both faces of the house.