08_ JBP I House Vitacura, Santiago
The design of this house, conceived from the outset as a neutral sup- port for art, was built on a site of over a thousand square meters, heavily wooded, and with clients receptive to innovative proposals. Hence, the main construction material was concrete, with the transparency of the windows and a reduced palette of colors. The constraint of keeping the existing grove intact, which gives a sense of interiority, triggered the idea of building half floors. This allowed part of the program -such as parking, service areas, and storage- to be located below the terrain's natural elevation, favoring an open configuration, more horizontal than vertical, where the house is traversed as if it were a single plane and taking advantage of the terrain's depth. The owners' strong bond with art was the driving force behind the creativity. A sculptural design system was adopted, such as a half-coin bedroom support, and two half-arched windows that become the visual signature of the house towards the street. The Escher-like stair crossing and the red mural that sculptor Federico Assler created especially for the back wall of the mezzanine also stand out. Given that the open, high-ceilinged spaces represented an acoustic challenge, a wooden ceiling was incorporated in the living-dining room and kitchen area in order to dampen the echoes. The result is a true “art-object house”, where the nature of the location, which even covers the roof, and wide open spaces are articulated with the necessary independence to create the simultaneous sensation of spaciousness and intimacy of a unique space. !
07_ The Black Rock House Zapallar, Valparaíso
Roca Negra is a refuge located on the central coast of Chile, which draws its foundation and inspiration from the granite landscape on the edge of the Southern Pacific Ocean. That edge, between sea and continent, gives rise to a dramatic encounter whose friction the house wants to tame and wrest from the stubborn siege of the waves to bring the horizon´s distant stillness to the built interior. In front of this astonishing landscape, a black pigmented concrete cube was proposed, which stands as an abstraction from the rocky ground on which this small pavilion rests. The interior appears as an excavated void where the wood's lightness appears as a counterpoint to the concrete's dense dark matter. The strategic openings give rise to an intense dialogue with the surrounding geography. !
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AOA / n°52
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