Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects

Cien House . Concepción

Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects . photos: © Cristóbal Palma . + archdaily

From the number of steps on the path up the hill, the height of an old cypress reminiscent those described by Pater, to the precise dimension that sets the podium a whole number above sea level, serve as decisive matches to explain the format of its silhouette. But the reasons that model a house are always others, always the same ones.

Within two unified formats, that of a large plan and another concentrated one, we layout the same unit twelve times: a square figure divided asymmetrically into four pieces. Sometimes central, sometimes laterally and others diagonally, each unit keeps a different relationship between the parts. Eventually, the pieces below will deal with the heavy work of the studio.
The pieces above with the almost immaterial daily routines, always devising constructions from the air to produce them later elsewhere. Between these two factual worlds, domestic life is reserved, in turn regulated by a large day room and a pair of stacked rooms for the night. The living room floor slopes towards the west. By keeping the lintels on a single horizon, the progressive sequence of frames makes their depth relative. Entering the living room is equivalent to diving under the platform of the whole number. Against a mirror that shows inside what was on the other side of the street, one arrives at the studio. To enter the tower is a form of blindness. Here, the cypress turned into board becomes locked in a continuous spiral, which with a gray melancholy, gradually returns the view while climbing.
The construction is a monolithic and regular concrete sediment with exposed aggregate. Only a slight change in the grain marks the difference between the podium and the tower. Inside, all the walls are covered by painted wood panels, barely thick and pierced by the galvanized steel frames that hold the windows.

Design Team: Mauricio Pezo, Sofía von Ellrichshausen
Collaborators: Bernhard Maurer, Eleonora Bassi, Valeria Farfan, Michael Godden
Client: Pezo von Ellrichshausen Ltda
Structures: Patricio Bonelli
Construction: Ricardo Ballesta
Plumbing: Marcelo Valenzuela
Electrical: Jaime Tatter
Construction System: Reinforced concrete
Exterior Finishes: Exposed aggregate, galvanized steel framing
Interior Finishes: concrete and painted wood, eucalyptus wood and polished slabs
Model Photography: Ana Crovetto
Project Photography: Cristóbal Palma

Site Area: 530 m2
Project Area: 430.0 m2
Project Year: 2011