Casa Covida

Casa Covida — A retreat for co-habitation during the time of Covid-19

Casa Covida, a house for co-habitation in the time of covid, is an experiment in combining 3D printing with indigenous and traditional building materials, methods with employing new and ancient ways of living. It is the first raw-earth house prototype in the world. The experimental case-study house is sited in the high alpine desert of Colorado’s San Luis Valley, where adobe, a combination of sand, silt, clay, water and straw that is dried in the sun, and is the traditional building material of the region. The house is comprised of three spaces, each for two people to sleep, bathe, and gather around fire and food, and the spaces have openings to the sky, the horizon, and the ground.

The gathering space includes seating around a hearth for cooking and warmth.

The Sleeping Space is filled with soft sheep-skins and churro wool textiles.

The bathing space is filled with ancient waters from the deep aquifer below this mountain desert landscape and the retention of heat is provided by the ground. Tumbled river stones surround the bath and bathers can view the sky.

Project Date: 2020

Design: Rael San Fratello / Emerging Objects