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Architects: Nicolás Gonzalez Arquitectos, Valeria Mecchia
- Area: 83 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Ana Delgado
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Manufacturers: Mafeld, Roca, fadepa
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Lead Architects: Valeria Mecchia, Nicolás Gonzalez
Text description provided by the architects. The Casa Pasco project begins with an anonymous and unknown history enclosure. Only a container composed of four walls, a vaulted roof, a blurred facade due to abandonment, and three large openings facing the street.
Being a front-facing property, the absence of outdoor spaces such as patios or terraces, and its spatiality, a single large space without internal divisions, led us to believe that it was a neighborhood store-type warehouse.
The request was for a rental housing studio for one or two people with no specific requirements or program defined by the client, but with the desire to intervene as little as possible in the solid pre-existing structure.
Its facade was found in a state of total abandonment and even disfigured by vandalism and responses to it, so its openings were walled up and many of its moldings were destroyed.
We decided to recover its original appearance by working with a specialized facade restoration company. We chose to leave a large part of the existing elements exposed, with their robustness, textures, and even construction defects, just treating the surfaces for better preservation; and working with new materials such as wood, iron, metal sheets, and glass, which differentiate and show the coexistence of the two eras of this enclosure.
The transparency and delicate materiality of the mezzanines give the sensation that they could be dismantled and turn back time.
Taking advantage of the generous height of the construction, which was accentuated by lowering the floor level by one step, we placed intermediate levels as large shelves that would contain different uses, all visible from the heart of the house and at the same time all overlooking the same space.
We designed the ground floor as a spacious area that allows for various furniture arrangements and enables group gatherings, while the upper floor consists of two mezzanines with smaller dimensions and less visibility from the street, inviting more intimate and introspective uses. A bridge connects them while providing sufficient distance to contribute to that sense of privacy. On the terrace, we set up a lightweight laundry room, with materials and geometry that resemble the roofs of a traditional neighborhood church, which is privileged when viewed from the terrace.
From every corner of the house, even with the doors closed, you can spy on another part of it; and from every window of one space, light or clarity filters into another. The original container remains intact.
