Habitable Polyhedron / Manuel Villa

Sep 2009

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Leisure , Selected , Structures , Colombia, Manuel Villa, Wood

Architect: Manuel Villa
Location: Bogota, Colombia
Collaborators: Arq. Alberto González, Ana María Largacha (Gardens)
Construction: Arq. Manuel Villa
Project area: 7,5 sqm
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Manuel Villa / Sergio Gómez

The project, meant for a family house back yard in the suburbs, aimed at designing a small park or opened area where the young parents and their newborn child would enjoy a independent space from day to day house activities, a space for reading, playing, etc. Having in mind this objective, and considering the usages of the space in the long term, it was proposed the project incorporated a small building to complement and support outside activities. That way he building would serve as a shelter for the child to share with his parents and, later on, as his own personal activities and hobbies setting.

To begin with, the project wants to recover the natural space, to rebuild its original vocation, the native woods. Thereof, the notion of “park” refers to a recovered natural enviroment that allows for several activities to be discovered as users themselves dwell in it.

The accompanying building, facing the natural landscape, constitutes a complementary space that supplies protection, refuge, or a dwelling area. Being a light structure, it should be able to give a protection and shelter sensation, and at the same time allow for several activities inside it, specially those having to do with space perception and comprehension. To come into form, the project is inspired in the shape’s perception processes the children develop in their first years of life. The basic shapes of things and their differences are key elements in the development of knowledge, and specifically in acquiring reading skills and geometric basic concepts.

floor plan

The outcome is a Regular Polyhedron –a “Truncated Cubic-octahedron”– transformed into a inhabitable space; a self-standing volume with one of his faces opened to the surroundings, and little windows on the sides and at the top that supply day light and optimal air circulation conditions. Inside, the space is arranged with a drawing area with a desk and ledge, and a resting place (sofa).