Conceptually we worked with the idea of the traditional houses of the central zone of Chile (Mediterranean), valuing the intermediate spaces like a fundamental part in the daily life and integrating the exterior to the interior through inner patios and covered zones as the traditional corridors. These spaces will allow to be inhabited as much in summer (shaded) as in winter (sunned).
The house forms a rectangle –with North South direction- , in which air bubbles are injected as patios that get qualified according to the different programs and their use. These patios unify these spaces visually and separate them programmatically.
Through the mobility of different elements the public spaces are added and transformed into one main intermediate space that contains the familiar life.
Programmatically the house is divided in 3 longitudinal strips, the first strip: the dormitories and the great corridor oriented to the north and the garden; the second strip: the services such as circulation, storage and bookcases oriented to the south; and in the center, the third strip that contains the public spaces and the patios.
As the traditional houses of the central zone, each patio acquires a programmatic and constructive specific quality. A dry patio that separates living and dining room, related to the main access of the house; a green patio that separates the living room from the children area, also injecting humidity as form of control of the high temperature; a playground patio for the children that relates the children area with the garden; and finally a working patio related to the kitchen and the garage area.
Constructively the house was thought like a great horizontal concrete plinth on which a regular steel structure is created. Glass and ventilated partitions are added.
The roof is conceived like a great empty horizontal element that allows the air circulation, throws the walls to the ceiling, and expelled through chimneys that regulates the ventilation.
Project Details:
Location: Santiago, Chile
Type: Residential – Houses
Architects: Riesco + Rivera Arquitectos Asociados, Francisca Rivera P. and Jose Riesco U. – www.riescoyrivera.cl
Client: Natalia Chellew and Ricardo Ventura-Junca
Materials: Steel, Concrete, Corten Steel, and Glass.
Cost: US$ 678 m2
Size of project: 236 m2 + terraces
Photograph: Sebastián Wilson León – www.swl.cl
