Text description provided by the architects. The project consists of the expansion of a 1960’s single unit house, transforming it into a hairdresser shop and residence for the owners, a young entrepreneur couple. The two programs – hairdresser shop and residence – were separated by relocating them according to their relation to the street through regular and compact volumes differentiated by the use of color. The hairdresser shop is a brown parallelepiped with the large front towards the street. The house is developed in a red cube towards the backyard, conserving the old dwelling’s structure on the first level, with the second floor emphasized over the hairdresser shop.
The volumes are covered with fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) panels, in modules that optimize their industrial format. The hairdresser shop’s access is defined within that modulation and its interior space is illuminated through a skylight. Glass was also utilized in the house, incorporated as a new enveloping material. The second level corner windows were designed according to the requirements of each interior space. In the bathroom, an elevated window controls the view from the exterior.
For the area of the staircase, a window was located between the two levels, to accompany the descent into the first floor. The children’s room has a mid height window, and in the main dormitory a large fixed full height window is incorporated, offering a direct view to Santiago’s Manquehue hill. The intention was to bring out the glass, without frameworks or openings, therefore the ventilation is provided through a hatchway, lost to the exterior through a FRC module.
The project is resolved with basic interventions where light, color and details of the envelope are the protagonists.
Created in 2002 by a group of young architects and designers from the University of Chile, 57STUDIO was conceived with the primary intention of offering an integrated complement to the diverse scales of design and creation.
They have successfully developed projects in most areas, including residential, industrial, services and commercial among others. Their works have been selected and exposed in different biennales around the world. 57STUDIO projects are frequently published in books and specialized magazines, and its members have had the chance to expose their work and share their experience as invited professors in most Chilean universities as well as others in Latin America.
