Casa-SOFO

A house that has to suit everybody

Casa-SOFO is a dated family house being remodelled as a holiday home for an extended family. The people who will use it range from grandparents to grandchildren, and they will often be in it at the same time.

That is the whole design problem. A scheme that pleases the youngest members tends to feel alien to the oldest; one that pleases the oldest reads as dated to everyone else. Most multi-generational houses fail by choosing a side.

Finding the register

We looked for a language that both ends of the family could recognise. Classical proportion and symmetry in the bones of the rooms, because that reads as familiar and dignified rather than old-fashioned. Contemporary materials, lighting and detailing on top of it, because that reads as current without shouting.

The palette does the rest: warm timber, deep tones and soft textiles instead of hard minimalism. It is a house meant to be comfortable to sit in for a long evening, not one meant to be photographed and left alone.

Rooms that can be shared or shut

Bedrooms are planned so several branches of the family can be accommodated without anyone feeling like a guest. The shared spaces can hold everyone at once, and the quieter rooms let people withdraw from that without leaving the house.