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Architects: Apaloosa Estudio de Arquitectura y Diseño
- Area: 183 m²
- Year: 2021
Text description provided by the architects. The project's primary strategy lies in the user's connection with the coniferous reserve adjacent to the lot. This was achieved by changing the user's visual horizon, thereby assigning the areas of activities as well. It's important to remember that this project is designed to house families and tourists, through applications such as Airbnb. We are sure that the project meets the goals of generating experiences in its sporadic users, however, the treatment of waste and the use of energy is vital to return the investment of our clients.
We had the advantage of having access to a prior construction on the lot, this module is a sheet metal warehouse where customers store cars. This module generated a large area for installing solar panels, both to generate electricity and to heat the water in the bathrooms. Likewise, a 5,000-liter cistern was decided to be reused. It was found on the site and was reutilized for rainwater collection to water the gardens and clean the apartments. The treatment of black water is dealt with a biodigester, which irrigates its gray water towards the internal side gardens.
“The Power of the Location”, as Le Corbusier professes in his book Toward an Architecture, was essential in this project. From considering side accesses that do not touch the pre-existing adjoining walls to the brief separation between departments that confine a corridor and in turn, is subdivided with logs of wood from the site. This narrow access route breaks with the central patios of each apartment, which in turn function as secondary access to them.
Most of the project was resolved using rigid reinforced concrete frames and block masonry from the region, however, there is a characteristic structural solution that is immediately appreciated as soon as it is accessed, the fully reinforced wall in CEB (Compressed Earth Block), which contains 3/8" rods every 60 cm and is confined with reinforced concrete enclosing chains. It should be noted that the fastening of these earth blocks is made with white adhesive (commonly known as Resistol) and joined with CEB dust.
By locating the apartments in separate bodies, we have the opportunity to generate reinforced concrete foundation slabs, with structure in rigid reinforced concrete frames and consequently its slabs. The constructive system that attracts attention and stands out in the visuals of the project is the CEB system (Compressed Earth Block) which leaves its partitions and joints exposed since the process works like a fully reinforced wall; with 3/8” rods cast with concrete.
