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Architects: Taller General
- Area: 33 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Andrés Villota
The container. In the historic center of Quito, the number of unused spaces within heritage residential buildings is very high. This is a 28m2 space and we must adapt it in a way, so it works as the minimum living space for one or two people.
It is currently divided (by a wooden partition wall) into two; and half a floor above, the space has a 5m2 room attached to it. This characteristic is repeated in many houses in the historic center since new partitions are made over time and sometimes certain spaces are useless.
In order not to affect the existing adobe structure, we propose an autonomous cell, in which the kitchen, bathroom, stairs, and storage spaces are concentrated; this cell is built with a metallic structure, that is sturdy, light, and easy to assemble.
The habitability. To enable the space as a home, the autonomous cell is made using 1” ¼ square metal structural tubes. The main challenge was to solve the joints, stability, and fasteners. For the joints of the tubes, we use bolts, which allow us to assemble the entire structure in one week and without over-qualified personnel, contrary to welding joints.
The surfaces are made up of staves, solving the kitchen shelves, steps, landing of the stairs, and the wardrobe floor. On the other side; glass, polycarbonate, and wooden doors were used for the envelope of the bathroom, and all the partitions, as well as the sanitary equipment, are reused.
The Femingas. To build the prototype we think that the main thing is to have a hands-on approach in order to understand how difficult the assembly is; and to be able to face the problems that might appear, we wanted to have a quick and easy assemble.
We held six construction meetings between women, where we seek to promote a collective process of self-organization and create an alternative for feminist construction that allows us to be more autonomous and to experiment with the socially assigned gender roles within the practice of construction.
