El Guarango House / Bernardo Bustamante

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Text description provided by the architects. The Guarango House is located in Rumiloma, one of the hills that stems from the Ilaló, a hill that has recently been integrated to become part of Quito´s rapidly growing urban area. Rumiloma´s irregular topography with its steep slopes and sharp ravines creates an astonishing view of the Ecuadorean Andes.

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The house is situated in the uppermost area of a large batch of three hectares taking advantage of a natural existing platform, similar to the plant of the houses´ single floor base área, which avoids interfering with the land´s natural given characteristics.

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The architectural program was conceived as a weekend two bedroom home, with a social area that doubles its size, by integrating the outer covered terrace which in itself extends its view endlessly towards the Inga Valley, the site of Ecuador´s first human settlements.

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It was built in 75 days, optimizing resources to reduce costs to a mínimum, despite the difficult access to the projects location.

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The construction technology used, fuses the metal framework with load- bearing brick masonry. A contemporary effect is achieved with the use of ancestral resources such as handcrafted clay bricks made at the same location with clay soil from the ground.

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In the Inner architectural design, the need to close and shield the house on all fronts when the owners are not present was taken into account  by creating a system of sliding gates designed to also hide from view within the same structures of the house when open.

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Water is scarce in this region and there is no drinking water supply. It doesn´t rain for half of the year , therefore rain water is collected from the roof in an artificial grotto dug next to the house which is then complemented by a system of cisterns that collect water through integrated gutters placed in strategic areas of the land, which in turn help with the reforestation of the site.

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This project demonstrates how it is possible to solve the need to build a weekend house in a rural area with a unique and simple volume using honest traditional and contemporary materials, and without hiding constructive elements, generating efficiency and synthetism consistent with a sustainable idea.

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