LORENZO

LORENZO is designed for narrow urban lots. When a house cannot spread sideways, it grows upward and divides its roles by floor: the lowest floor receives guests and holds the household work, the middle floor belongs to the family and to working from home, and the top floor is for sleeping. Visitors never walk through anyone's private space. What usually defeats a narrow house is darkness in the middle, because the side walls cannot carry windows. LORENZO answers that with a void above the stair hall that links the floors and a full-height glass front, so daylight reaches the centre of the house without relying on the side walls. Parking sits beneath the building, side by side, so the inner car leaves without moving the others, shaded by the structure itself rather than an added carport. The other thing a narrow house tends to sacrifice is space for household work. LORENZO keeps a maid's room with its own bathroom, and a bedroom on the entrance floor.