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Architects: SMF Arquitectos
- Year: 2014
Text description provided by the architects. The theme of memory and identity are factors to consider when designing architecture from a contemporary perspective but respectful of historical legacy.
The Special Preservation Area is an area that holds a rich residential neighborhood tradition with industrial applications related to the railway that can still be seen. A particular episode, the thousand houses project, characterizes the area. Despite its morphological deterioration, we believe it may remain a reference in terms of use and scales (street-sidewalk-courtyard-house). Today the residential use is protagonist, combined with institutional and commercial activity.
We believe that the project presented for consideration attempts to synthesize some typological characteristics traditional of the area (houses with courtyard and garden) with the need for densification raised in the present.
In a context of uniform heights and morphologies, mainly with a ground floor and an upper floor, we propose the construction of four dwellings with their own courtyards grouped around a common open space that takes the height of the adjoining building.
Its volume is defined in terms of contemporary architecture, as a single volume with a predominantly glazed front upstairs, and on the ground we propose a semi transparent "base" that functions as sieve of the main entrance and the garage, allowing a glimpse of the "green" interior from the street. The idea of courtyard with garden rescues the tradition of unifying tradition sunny space with optimal orientation, becoming the outdoor heart of the project.
Keeping respect and consideration of a neighborhood that is under preservation rules, this new intervention at a small scale framed within the existing rules according to the Zoning Ordinance and Land Use, respects and optimizes the buildings of the environment enriching the context.
Its materiality is resolved within what is considered traditional construction: reinforced concrete structure, masonry bricks, plaster ceilings, aluminum frames and zinc roofs. The finish is designed predominantly with interior and exterior white walls and aluminum frames, creating a contrast where the nature of the material used dominates.
In short, we try to create an architecture that provides the user comfort and livability and consequently values, in a contemporary way, the immediate environment and the neighborhood as a whole.
