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Architects: Daniel Moreno Flores, Margarida Marques
- Year: 2011
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Photographs:Federico Kulekdjian, Daniel Moreno Flores
Text description provided by the architects. It is a brick house about 50 years old, which belonged to my great grandmother, who gave it as inheritance to his grandchildren, the ground floor was given to my aunt. When she came to live in the house, she decided to make it grow, and the only side to which it could do so was downwards, two lower floors were made. Over many years they made modifications to its space, there was a process of coating after coating, several layers of carpets or vinyls on the floor, coating of plywood and carpet on the walls, and cladding of the pieces of wood with thin plywood.
The first time we entered the room to start with the renovation, we found it entertaining with Margarida to rip with our own hands, we realized that it was very easy and it was something we could do ourselves, thus we decided to start construction work inviting friends, have a few beers and eat some banana chips. So we decided to get involved and enjoy this first stage of construction, having fun with a hammer, mounted on a ladder, or simply taking off the glue. This attitude of including ourselves, is not only a working posture, but also due to the fact of not having many economic resources and having devised a strategy, to make architecture.
This project was made at a low cost, a reason that allowed us to enhance the design with disuse, and experience from the reality of the space, with its limitations and certain rules. The commission was to clean, remove and find each of the materials to see what it really was. For example: if the wall is made of brick, it is important to see the brick!
Once the house was stripped...
A-As a first exercise, we used woods and doors that became formwork for the concrete prefabrication system; C-shaped pieces, placed in different positions in response to various forms of furniture.
B-Then, the wooden floors became doors, stairs, racks, spatial boundaries or new flooring; occupying the material in different ways. The wooden beams we found were used to make spatial volumes.
C-When removing materials or making new openings, there were dents that we left exposed to intensify the action of making the hole.
D-The second foreign material to the house was the triplex, which was purchased at half price and taking advantage of buying it at the factory, we brought as a gift, the cut edges of the material, which is then used in containers, contributing with its texture.
We sought an incomplete architecture... without finishes! Where the constructive logic is the one that gives the space its beauty.
We designed a new form of corridor, eliminating all of the mezzanine. An event that does not need us to walk to move; one is transported by a cart that moves, not only allowing you to move, but also giving you different experiences of space.
It was a strongly material project, showing the essence of matter, each element tells its own story, its strengths and weaknesses in its construction process, its information of the industry, the hand of the artisan, the event that happened to get its result or time.
