CR House / H+H Arquitectos

Curated by ArchDaily

Architects: H+H Arquitectos
Year: 2013
Manufacturers: Lamp, Sika, Baxi, Cemex, Energia Solar

Text description provided by the architects. Located in the exclusive neighborhood of Santa Ana Oriental in the north of Bogota, this 711m2 home was designed to fit the client. Its architecture in exposed concrete seeks to purify its elements and its volume responds to the siting according to the orientation of its boundaries, forming two volumes articulated by the access area transparent to the rear garden. We have designed the social area with a greater height and a vault that integrates in a single space the living and dining room, all related and connected to the main garden. The construction was completed in August 2013.

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The entrance is up an exterior staircase with concrete steps cantilevered from a retaining wall, which leads to the front door made of rusty steel. The interior design is presented so clearly and generously that it creates a pleasant feeling of familiarity with the environment: from the main entrance, a space that articulates the two cores of the dwelling, is the kitchen, social area and services on one side and the bedroom area on the other.

The garden, which is right across the entrance, naturally takes center stage mixing with the social area, master bedroom and family room. After the first impression the details appear, as defined by the materials and interiors, raising a great curiosity about every corner.

The program included a double living and dining room, kitchen, service areas and guest bathroom, and a private area with four bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a family room and a multipurpose study that can be isolated or opened to the social or the private area. Each of these two cores are parallel to a different boundary, a fact that brings dynamism and forces the house away from an orthogonal structure; therefore the main access becomes a joint that connects the two cores in a single volume.

Wood, rusty steel and pearl gray concrete are highlights in the project. In particular, the latter acquires an unusual role required by the owners, who in a happy coincidence of ideas with the architects wanted to expose the structural system, and the pearl gray concrete accentuates originality and elegance both to the exterior and to the interior of the house.

On interior walls, paintings stand strongly with the exposed concrete as background material. After making the decision to display the structure clearly, we decided to give spatial richness to the social area and rid it of supporting elements, so the architects designed a vault with a 12 meter span without any pillars or columns, only exposed temples hold both sides of the vaulted ceiling. In this space that is fully open to the garden, a fireplace separates the dining from the living room and gives them both an identity. To protect the interior from the sun and rain, large eaves carefully designed in exposed concrete are part of a clean architecture free of ornamental elements.