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Architects: Estudio Palacios
- Area: 315 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Gonzalo Viramonte
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Manufacturers: Blangino, Ciment, Edificor, Herrería Prosdócimo, Maderera Maldonado Schweizer, Peirano griferias
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Lead Architect: Mariana Palacios
Text description provided by the architects. The year 2020. Pandemic. Time for reflection. Time for a change. The idea of transforming Documenta/Scenic (theater) into Casa Documenta (home and theater/rehearsal/lab) has to do with the possibility of integrating a residence with the workspace, an experience that has developed in various places around the world since the pandemic.
In the Centro neighborhood, on Lima Street, almost at the corner of Maipú, we find this house from the colonial period, according to the first records. Throughout its history, it has had several interventions (for example, in 1925 it acquired its Art Nouveau facade), with its latest destination being a theater: DocumentA/Scenic.
The studio began the transformation process with a firm determination to value this historic house, which is very dear to the owners. To achieve this, they proposed a restoration to rescue its exquisite spatial qualities and carry out a comprehensive intervention to adapt the entire ensemble to the new and extensive program: publishing house/main residence/small theater/son's apartment/daughter's apartment.
The intervention focused on creating two internal courtyards, which was made possible by reducing the existing theater and, from there, being able to respond to the functional and habitability needs of the multi-program. The house then starts to become a walk. And multiple worlds. Through a hallway, you reach a hall with a large library, which leads us to the publishing area. Workshop and showroom, both with street-facing windows.
From there, we go to the original courtyard of the house, with a central ginkgo tree and climbing vines on the dividing wall, which gives us direct access to the main residence. Here, you can smell the original, perhaps the beginning of everything. Adobe walls, bare bricks forming arches, rusty profiles. And all in a wonderfully intimate atmosphere, where the highly transited street disappears and only the music proposed by the exquisite owners can be heard.
Or we can take a small hallway to the first courtyard, which serves as the entrance to the theater, now smaller. It can be closed and opened, depending on the required experience, to the two new courtyards. Through lift-up gates, it expands its capacity, allowing for a unique spatial experience that accommodates various rehearsal formats and performances.
And finally, the back, where the children live, each independent. Bedrooms that enjoy the proposed courtyards and a shared kitchen-dining area. The three internal courtyards, the original one of the house, and then the two new ones next to the theater, are what enable all activities and provide quality to each of the spaces.
Regarding the chosen materiality to introduce new elements, simplicity and austerity of resources were preferred (smooth surfaces, white monochrome, some chosen color details), leaving the original textures of the house exposed, and creating a unique atmosphere. Casa Documenta brings together various times and scales, perhaps that is where its beauty lies.
