In countries where architecture adapts to the seasons, projects must respond so that they are comfortable for the users, both in the hot summer temperatures and in the cold winter. Tropical countries, such as Colombia, are a bit luckier. The temperature of construction sites depends less on the seasons and more on where they are located geographically according to the altitude above sea level; the closer they are to the sea, the warmer it is. For this reason, it is not essential to seal or insulate the interior spaces. On the contrary, the good management of constant ventilation creates a more permeable and contextual architecture.
We have put together a series of projects with different architectural programs: local markets, health facilities, cultural, education and housing projects. They show that with different construction techniques, you can begin to control the permeability, air flow, privacy or solar heat gain. Explore each of these projects below.
Local Market
Gramalote Market Square / Niro Arquitectura + OAU | Oficina de Arquitectura & Urbanismo
In this project, permeability allows continuous ventilation as well as security and visual control, thanks to an arrayed brick framework on the façades facing the street.
The textures of the facades are achieved by using blocks of clay created by the local industry in the region. These pieces allow visual connection towards the interior of the square, but at the same time, they define the perimeter of the project.
Healthcare Architecture
Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation / El Equipo de Mazzanti
The façade uses brick in extension and not in compression. It uses metallic parts and cables that support the brick as a fabric.
This allows us to have different patterns and textures giving the opportunity to form several natural lighting uses depending on the need. That is why they can have more natural lighting which helps with patient recovery.
Cultural Architecture
Public Library in Villanueva / Alejandro Piñol, Germán Ramírez, Miguel Torres, Carlos Meza
Each volume is built differently and with distinct materials, one in stone blocks (taken from a neighboring riverbank) and the other in pine wood (taken from a sustainably planted forest).
Inside, five interlocking metal boxes make up the program creating a permeable set, allowing air to pass through, in which both stone and wood can be seen.
Educational Architecture
Environmental Classroom / Taller Síntesis
The construction of this building has been proposed according to the materials available on the site, understanding transportation issues in an area without roads or connections, materials that are known to the local workforce and require little training, but it also sought to revive the traditions of wooded constructions that reflect the local housing both inside and outside.
The doors and windows of this small environmental classroom become a wooden fabric that lets the wind pass through, and at the same time, filters the intense exterior light, making the interior of the space constantly change through the shadows projected on surfaces.
Siete Vueltas Rural Educational Institution / Plan:b arquitectos
In an arid landscape and an almost completely flat land of the municipality of San Juan de Urabá, this school was built replacing previous buildings in very poor condition. Around a wide area for games and the soccer field, modular buildings form a polygonal perimeter, with corridors to the interior, and more closed facades to the outside.
A frame structure was made in reinforced concrete, a form which holds perforated block walls and metal roof beams. All single-story classrooms have cross ventilation, and enjoy views of the distant landscape. From a distance, the building behaves like a singular mark in the landscape.
Raíces Educational Park / Taller Piloto Arquitectos
This project is in a natural context of transition between urban and rural, and is built from local materials and finishes, where the same structure is the final face. The result is textures and finishes that are honest and austere, which give authenticity to the project as it becomes a canvas that receives organic vegetation and the colors of the culture.
Constructive clarity and simplicity through the use of concrete walls was embodied in varied concrete blocks. These reflect a modular and practical system without losing the variety from its free areas that improve the construction quality, reduce completion times and work budgets.
Language Center EAFIT University / JUMP Arquitectos
It was essential that these two bodies relate to each other, the internal population of the building as well as of the visitors. The common elements are the central street that crosses the project longitudinally creating connections with the campus of the university, and also allowing people to walk through the building and its different meeting areas. A large food area functions as an intermediate space that becomes a great viewpoint to different parts of the city.
The second body is a rational volume conceptually detached from the first, precisely to achieve the duality of the project. The entire academic program of the language center is located in this volume. Its main feature is the tectonics of the south facade that is composed of a system of 481 pieces of perforated concrete to ensure an air exchange of the interior, and at the same time, shield from the harsh western sun.
Residential Architecture
C17 House / Balmor Pereira / XXStudio
An exposed concrete skeleton defines the materiality of the house, which subtly added three materials: MURO-CEL in black concrete redefines its use forming the permeable vertical plane in a open way. Urapo and pardillo wood treated with natural bee wax impose their presence, marking the space with horizontal grains, while the glass communicates what is supported and not, de-materializing with multiple reflections.
The oblique beam receives breezes from the northeast, and the permeable frontal plane acts as a filter to allows its path and simultaneously controls solar radiation of the access corridor, while the horizontal planes float laterally supporting the overall strategy and minimizing the east - west sunlight.
Earth House / Alfonso Arango
Earth House is located in Villa de Leyva, an area characterized by the absence of rain and pleasant temperatures, without excessive cold or heat. Taking advantage of these conditions, the permeable wall of perforated cement blocks faces the courtyard of the interior socializing area, providing functionality as well as a change in aesthetic texture.
It is possible to say that this house is a block of soil open to the sky. Architecture that is born from stone and water; under the sky and for the sky; on the earth and of the earth.
Open/Closed House / Juan Pablo Aschner
The climate, humid and warm, determined the design of a cool house, which could be naturally ventilated, that could be kept open to the landscape during the day but that could offer insulation at night.
The house has a completely closed facade to the east because in that directio,n and very close by, is a neighboring house that looks directly over the lot; the morning sun is also very strong. By contrast, it opens completely to the west and towards spectacular mountain and valley views and towards scenic sunsets. Between the two fronts and thanks to multiple openings, cross ventilation and breezes are almost guaranteed. The roof als ohas significant slopes due to the large amount of water that can fall during the rainy season.
