![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Exterior Photography, Facade, Brick](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/f8c7/b357/6589/8c00/019e/newsletter/A814-4.jpg?1592981681)
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Architects: Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos
- Area: 1076 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Nacho Almonacid
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Manufacturers: AutoDesk, ULMA Architectural Solutions, CHC, Dap Ducasse, Eglo, Trimble, Volcan
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Lead Architects: Heike Höpfner Kromm
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Exterior Photography, Brick, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/f8e7/b357/65dd/9900/0107/medium_jpg/A814-5.jpg?1592981712)
Text description provided by the architects. Waiting for more than ten years to be rebuilt, remained these three dismantled houses, that where part of the main axis of the heritage area of the city of Puerto Varas, in southern Chile.
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Exterior Photography, Brick, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/fa22/b357/6589/8c00/01a4/newsletter/A814-6.jpg?1592982027)
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Image 36 of 39](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/f8ab/b357/6589/8c00/019d/newsletter/Planta_Conjunto_nivel_2.jpg?1592981605)
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Exterior Photography, Wood, Facade, Door, Brick](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/fa3f/b357/65dd/9900/010b/newsletter/A814-7.jpg?1592982053)
Considering the need to rebuild these historic houses, there was the opportunity to rethink the meaning of these properties in the current urban context and the reconversion of the programs they originally housed. The challenge was to conserve the atmosphere that characterized these large houses for more than hundred years, giving it validity in an urban patrimonial context, in densification process.
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Interior Photography, Wood](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/fbb5/b357/65dd/9900/010f/newsletter/91_(6).jpg?1592982423)
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Image 29 of 39](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/f319/b357/6589/8c00/0189/newsletter/Casa_2_-_Elevación_Oriente.jpg?1592980215)
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Interior Photography, Windows](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/f909/b357/6589/8c00/019f/newsletter/91_(1).jpg?1592981740)
These three buildings are now implanted generating a walk inside the block, and can be toured as part of a circuit of shops, cafes and small squares on the first level and offices on the second. Thus, the relationship of these houses with an apartment block located behind them, is articulated and a new space is offered to the city allowing the user to inhabit places that were previously denied to them.
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Interior Photography, Stairs](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/fbd9/b357/6589/8c00/01ab/newsletter/91_(8).jpg?1592982459)
The architectural actions respected the original structural lines, adapting each enclosure to the underlying grid. Patrimonial criteria were considered, differentiating new structural elements from the original ones, as well as the maintenance of elements as a testimony of the original spatiality.
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Interior Photography, Wood](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/ff20/b357/6589/8c00/01b6/newsletter/Cortesía_(2).jpg?1592983319)
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Image 30 of 39](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/edf4/b357/6589/8c00/0184/newsletter/Casa_2_-_Corte.jpg?1592978899)
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Exterior Photography, Wood, Brick](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/ff2d/b357/65dd/9900/0117/newsletter/Cortesía_(1).jpg?1592983331)
The project also considered the need to reuse elements of the original buildings. This process was not easy given the advanced deterioration and the loss of some components in the time they remained in storage. As a strategy, the reuse of decorative elements and coatings was privileged in the first instance. For the missing parts, replicas were made. Some structural elements were reused, mainly those that were visible.
![Recycling Three Heritage Houses / Moraga-Höpfner Arquitectos - Exterior Photography, Aerial View Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5ef2/f71b/b357/65dd/9900/0103/newsletter/A814-1.jpg?1592981259)