Poli House / Pezo von Ellrichshausen

May 2008

Uploaded by Nico Saieh — Filed under: Houses ,Selected , Chile, Cliff, Concrete, Cultural, Pezo von Ellrichshausen

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Architects: Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Location: Coliumo peninsula, Chile
Client: Poli House Cultural Center
Area: 180sqm
Site Area: 10.000sqm
Construction start: 2004
Completion: 2005
Contractors: PvE
Structural Engineer: Cecilia Poblete
Materials: Concrete, Glass
Budget: 370 US$ / m2
Photos: Cristobal Palma

The work is located on the Coliumo peninsula, in a rural setting scarcely populated by farmers, independent fishermen and a few summer tourists. It is a distant location that, we believe, is not far from the reality of the raw dream described by Martinez Estrada. There, a compact and autonomous piece was built in order to capture at least two things: the sensation of a natural podium surrounded by vastness and the dizzying and wide open space produced by the sight of the sea washing against the rocks at the foot of the cliffs.

The building functions both as a summer house and a cultural center. This established a contradictory use: the interior would have to mediate between a very public aspect and a more intimate and informal one. That is, it had to be both monumental and domestic without any of the negative aspects of either one affecting the other. Therefore, we decided not to name the rooms by function but instead to leave them nameless and functionless, just empty rooms with varying degrees of connection between them. Then we decided to organize all the service functions in an oversized perimeter (the functional width), inside a thick wall that acts as a buffer. That hollowed, empty space houses the kitchen, the vertical circulations, the bathrooms, the closets and a series of interior balconies that protect the windows from the sun (to the north) and the rain (to the west). If necessary, all the furniture and domestic objects can be stored inside the perimeter, freeing up the space for multiple activities.

The entire work was built with handmade concrete, using untreated wooden frames. The work was done with a small mixer and four wheelbarrows, in horizontal strata that matched the height of half a wooden board. We then used the same battered wood of the frames to line the interior and to build sliding panels that function both as doors to hide the services of the perimeter and as security shutters that cover the windows when the house is left alone.

: site plan

: plan 04

: plan 01

: plan 02

: plan 03

: south facade

: east facade

: north facade

: west facade

: section d

: section a

: section b

: section c

: exploted axo

: section axo

Cite:
Saieh , Nico . "Poli House / Pezo von Ellrichshausen" 08 May 2008. ArchDaily. Accessed 10 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/476>

Comments (14)
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Links to this entry (3)

jack says:

superb design ,takes my breath away!!

# May 18, 2008 at 01:43

stone says:

omg haha i wouldnt say that livin in cube is possible!:D nice work impressive :D

# October 16, 2008 at 16:18

nansilou says:

# October 27, 2008 at 10:14

gezlerone says:

UnBelivble JOB !!!!!!!!!!
GOOD

# November 17, 2008 at 08:23

sky says:

Boring design~ Terrible!!

# December 15, 2008 at 07:21

Carlo says:

@ sky
why boring? the spaces are quite complex and the relations between the different areas and floors are exciting.
could you please motivate your conclusion?

# January 14, 2009 at 06:53

Greg says:

I have to agree with carlo. But, i find the drawings really lacking, they’ve stripped so much out that they’re harder to read than they need be, I hope not as a metaphor for the building.

# January 28, 2009 at 09:03

Rokas says:

Yah,boring…No “nice curves”,no “salto mortale’s”…
Try to do such a boring thing-maybe then youll start to undrstand and think abouth simple-complex things…

# January 28, 2009 at 10:24

Lucas Gray says:

I love this project. It has a great composition and site nively in the landscape. I also kind of like the abstractness of the drawings…they become works of graphic art in themselves instead of just informative instructions on how to construct the piece.

There also seems to be interesting movement and views between the interior spaces. I also like the way natural light is introduced into the interior.

# April 3, 2009 at 04:24

u says: