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Architecture Firm: El Sindicato Arquitectura
E-mail: elsindicato.arquitectura@gmail.com
Facebook and Instagram: @elsindicatoarquitectura
Authors: Nicolás Viteri – María Mercedes Reinoso – Xavier Duque
Location: San Juan, Cumbayá, Ecuador
Completion Year: 2021
Covered Area: 190m²
Constructed Area: 45 m²
Photography: Andrés Villota / @andres.v.fotografìa
Illustration: El Sindicato Arquitectura – Lennin Amaya
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Habitación en el cerro is an extension to an existing house in San Juan de Cumbayá, Ecuador.
After the requirement of a simple program that includes a room with a sleeping area, a living space and a bathroom, an implantation determined by a fairly rugged terrain full of vegetation and the necessary relationship with the existing house, we had the opportunity to experiment with construction technique and materiality.
For the execution of the project, we developed a mixed structure focused on the use of stone and brick load-bearing walls on the facades that are buried as a result of the necessary clearance to match levels with the existing house, brick load-bearing walls on the exposed facades with a high requirement of privacy due to its immediate relationship with the existing house and simple solid wood columns on a stone plinth on the semi-exposed façade that looks at and takes advantage of the abundant nature of the place.
We finished off the structure unifying the four facades with a concrete and wood floor that supports a light roof with a simple structure of solid wood and isolation chamber.
In the load-bearing walls we apply the reinforced cavity technique, for the buried ones we use a stone face of 20-30cm towards the outside, a reinforced concrete cavity of 4-6cm in the center and a brick face on the inside, and for the exposed ones , the same reinforced cavity of 4-6cm and two brick faces.
The reinforced cavity technique allowed us to have no columns and to use the masonry as formwork for the casting of the reinforced cavity, as a means to reduce the slenderness of a concrete wall as thin and as finished.
The simple solid wood columns are anchored to a stone plinth that bridges the gap between the floor inside and the natural level of the ground outside. This type of punctual structure was used to allow a great view of the immediate vegetation.
As a result, we have a project that seeks not to stand out from nature and that focuses on the sensation that it generates when inhabiting it.
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