Caja Oscura by
Javier Corvalán

The roof of this house in Paraguay can be lifted open like the lid of a box (+ movie).

Located in the countryside outside capital city Asunción, the house was designed by Paraguayan architect Javier Corvalán as the holiday home of a film-maker.

The owners are often away for long periods of time, so Corvalán was asked to create a building that could transform between a comfortable residence and a hermetically sealed box.

The base of the two-storey house is surrounded by walls of locally sourced sandstone, which support the concrete floor slab and galvanised-steel structure of the level above.

To raise the roof of the house residents simple wind a manual winch, causing the rectilinear structure to tilt open and reveal the kitchen and living room housed inside.

When closed, a pinhole allows the windowless space to function as a camera obscura, projecting an upside-down image of the surroundings onto the MDF panels that line the interior walls.

The bottom floor houses a bedroom and bathroom. Mezzanine glazing wraps around the edges of this space, creating a visual separation between the two floors.

Concrete tiles cover the floor, while the staircase leading upstairs is constructed from cantilevered stone blocks.

We’ve featured a couple of houses with moving walls and floors. Others include a residence that transforms from a villa by day to a fortress by night, plus a home with mobile walls and roof that can be moved to cover and uncover parts of the interior.

Other holiday homes completed recently include a prefabricated building in the shape of a cloud and a guest house with a patchwork timber facade.

See more moving buildings »
See more holiday homes »

Photography and movie are by Pedro Kok.

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