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Architects: Alberto Burckhard + Carolina Echeverri
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Photographs:Juan Antonio Monsalve
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Manufacturers: Bioteckta, Cemex
Text description provided by the architects. The project is located on the Santo Domingo plateau, Municipality of Nilo, Cundinamarca Department. The plateau dominates the place and views of mountain profiles form a beautiful environment. The climate is tropical, with temperatures between 27 ° and 38 ° and in some seasons with pleasant breezes. The houses are located in two neighboring lots overlooking a lake; their areas are 3,380 m2 and 2,761 m2 respectively.
The direct commission of the clients, two brothers, consisted of two houses with a unique architectural design, for each of their families, and to establish a house on each lot.
The definition of the program required large areas with a scheme of two floors, whose main spaces have been distributed as follows:
•A large entrance courtyard that links in an L-shape the volume of the social area with the volume containing the double-height space of the stairs and 2nd level rooms.
•The social volume houses the living area, dining room and kitchen, in direct communication with the pool. The area becomes a lookout over the mountains and the edge of the pool is responsible for defining the frame for the landscape. Alongside is the wing that houses the two secondary bedrooms that open onto a garden on one of its long facades, and the other on a reflecting pool which in turn is the element that articulates the rest of the space.
•The second floor is conceived as the private part of the houses, where the main bedrooms are located, which in turn extend over the decks constructed as green roofs.
The proposed architecture is of a minimalist reading, with volumes mainly defined by the horizontal planes. These planes, built in concrete, are the characteristic feature of the project. The roof plane of the social area folds perpendicularly on itself twice, forming the volume of the second floor. Other vertical planes are constituted by enclosures with wooden window frames and shutters. The gardens designed and planted related to the spaces contain the houses so that the domain of the site is through views and climate management.
The orientation of the houses responds to views and implantation on the edge of the plateau. The tropical climate is handled with generous openings, allowing the circulation of the breeze. The sun is screened by vertical wooden blinds, creating patterns of light that are reflected on concrete and wood surfaces featured in the project.
The materials present in the project are mainly architectural concrete and woodwork. Some planes include plastering and painting, the finish for the floors is a veneer of the same color palette as concrete and wood, but easy to maintain.
Originally published on 19 Mayo, 2016
