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Architects: Fantuzzi + Rodillo Arquitectos
- Area: 386 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Pablo Blanco
Text description provided by the architects. In the centre of one of the most touristic hills in Valparaíso, we proposed the refurbishment and expansion of an old housing building for its transformation to a hotel. We added a new floor to the two-storey building, slightly overhanging the surrounding buildings and generating a new volumetric contrast in the street.
The southern façade, where the entrance is placed, is kept due to its architectural quality, representative of the buildings in the hill and its materiality and arrangements. The original composition and proportion of the windows is preserved, providing a harmonious outcome. The new store, is fitted to the original without rivaling with it. However, the northern façade, needed a full reconstruction given its dilapidated state. A new metal structure allows to create wide windows with balconies that open the building to the bay of Valparaiso and its hills in an incomparable panoramic view.
Inside the building, the space is organized thanks to a void volume created by the staircase and the inner patio. This space, connects all the different places in the hotel, both vertically and horizontally, leaving the rooms to the sides of the staircase and linking them with walkways over the patio. The usage of metal sections and wooden finish, gives the set a lightness that enlarges even more the central space. Furthermore, the patio complements the insufficient lightning of the façades to such an elongated plan, improving the quality of the whole building. The rooms are composed soberly so they can be configured according to the necessities of the clients easily.
For the structure, the perimeter walls are conserved and so are the main inner partitions of 4x4'' oak wood strips, reinforcing the damaged ones. The original beam structure of 2x10'' Oregon pinewood is also kept, replacing the broken ones with similar pieces. In addition to this, all the flooring is maintained, using a similar one in the expansion. The structure in the new floor is made with a metallic stretcher frame and steel sections with galvanized steel sheets.
