Tasked with creating a vacation home that could be sealed off and safe from the elements and vandalism for long periods of time, Paraguayan architect Javier Corvalán designed a dwelling in a corrugated, windowless box. To get inside, the owner, a filmmaker, uses a hand winch to tilt open the box's lid like an architectural sweater gift-wrapped at the department store. Sitting just outside the country's capital, Asunción, La Caja Obscura plays on the camera obscura concept ("caja" means box), and indeed, when closed, a pinhole at the top of it all allows for a projection of the surrounding scenery to color the walls, which almost almost makes up for the utter lack of windows. Watch how it all works, below.
La Caja Oscura de Javier Corvalán, Asunción, Paraguay from Pedro Kok on Vimeo.
· Caja Oscura by Javier Corvalán [Dezeen]