Round wooden house with open spaces and endless possibilities – Casa Ojalá with a variety of designs
A limited space here turns into a round wooden house and an extraordinary but modern home that you can install almost anywhere. Beatrice Bonzanigo’s design was created as a project in the heart of the Brera district in Milan. During the Milan Design Week 2019, which took place from April 9th to 14th, it was presented as a round wooden house called CASA OJALÁ / INHABITING THE INFINITE CHOICE. The building project is patented by the architect Beatrice Bonzanigo from IB Studio as a “residential building with high flexibility”. Casa Ojalá is organized by the Post Design Gallery / Memphis together with the exhibition Memphis + Post Design. It also offers a choice of 5 possible rooms as living spaces. Visitors can see the fabric and materials as a 1:10 scale model. In this way, the designers introduce the guests to the world of endless choices that such a round wooden house offers the public for the first time.
Round wooden house for any environment
“Ojalá” (o-ha-lá, from the old Spanish Oxalá, Arabic wašāʾa llāh) is a word that encapsulates the concept of infinite possibilities, hopes in relation to emptiness and absence, intuition, a door key not yet open, a new, a combined field of existence, a telescope that brings together and moves horizons, a space with various possibilities and thus a wish that comes true.
So this is a small 27 square meter round wooden house with multiple interiors. These work synchronously without changing the original structure and shape. Casa Ojalá evolves from a manual mechanical system of ropes, pulleys and cranks, which brings the guest to the memory of a trip on a sailboat blown by the wind.
Wood and fabrics are also reminiscent of the traditions of the place where such a round wooden house would stand, and underline its uniqueness and aesthetic adaptability. At the same time, however, they remain a formally recognizable object that can be marketed worldwide.
Casa Ojalá # 1 also has two bedrooms, one with a double bed and one with a single bed. There is also a bathroom, a terrace, a kitchenette and a living room, which actually flow continuously into one another. This transforms them into a large outdoor area with a platform, a round wooden house without a roof or even without a floor.
So the whole thing offers a space in which and with which you can play, as well as a round wooden house without walls. With its different, fragrant and tangible layers of material, you mark the boundary between indoor and outdoor space with an always surprising effect.
Sustainable concept for a round wooden house
The flexibility of the space is made possible by the innovative solution of sliding walls with wood cladding and fabric. These are rolled up on posts located on the edge of the perimeter and in the center of the structure. There are thus around twenty options to increase the flexibility of Casa Ojalá and make it a fully customizable product.
Casa Ojalá leaves a really good impression on the guests. The surprise and the simplicity with which it changes create a unique experience of a new and palpable life, a new discovery in the world of static architecture. The limited space that we normally have to reckon with is thereby transformed into an infinite home.
The house is small, you can also dismantle and move it without it becoming bulky. The architectural boundaries of forced view, filtered light, controlled air and untouchable roofing are broken, but every comfort and all functions of a house are guaranteed. The home is therefore suitable for surprise, play, circus, theater and all kinds of adventurous experiences. The landscape and the surroundings only serve as a facade.
Open design for more freedom
Once the house is assembled it is based on its manual mechanical system. The construction does not require any external support, neither human nor technological. It also has a system for collecting rainwater and can be equipped with photovoltaic modules. It has an additional small septic tank made from a selection of environmentally conscious and sustainable fabrics as well as local essences made from wood.
The demand for minimal and environmentally friendly solutions has risen sharply worldwide in recent years. Today’s market also offers a variety of small architectural solutions for individuals looking for something different. Casa Ojalá does not only offer this as a possible variant. Its far-reaching flexibility in the smallest of spaces, which you can perceive as infinite and lively, is the key that is still missing on the world market.
Initially it was a by-product for luxury hotels looking for new solutions for a travel experience and avoiding construction sites. Casa Ojalá can also be offered to private customers with land of any kind, vineyards, open landscape, mountains, lagoons, forests, meadows, sand dunes, infinite or undeveloped land.
