Ricardo Torrejon

CGM House

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

CGM HOUSE

Ricardo Torrejon Schellhorn

ARCHITECTS
Ricardo Torrejon Schellhorn

PHOTOGRAPHS
Joaquin Velasco

AREA
310.0 m²

YEAR
2012

LOCATION
Limache, Chile

CATEGORY
Houses

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

PROGRAM

The main challenge of this house was making a ‘primary residence’ compatible with the context and environment of a ‘vacation house’.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

There were two basic requests at the beginning of the design process:

- The house should be able to facilitate an intense social life with relatives and friends, adults and kids.

-At the same time, it has to be able to house ordinary family life, with all the intimacy and privacy that involves.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

This lead to the basic design form: Independent volumes (not just independent rooms) housing the different aspects of the program which can be easily isolated at every moment from the rest of the house: 1. Parents, 2. Common Spaces, 3. Children, 4. Service.

LOCATION

‘Hacienda Los Aromos’ is a private urbanization 20 Km away from the central Chilean coast.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

The lots spread along the peninsula, surrounded by the ‘Embalse Los Aromos’, a regional water reservoir, which is also used for recreational purposes.

The building site is a 5.000 sqm, continuous 30° slopped lot, facing east, with great views towards the local mountains and over the reservoir.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

The first step was to build a large platform by means of a zigzag concrete retaining wall, which provides resistance but also allows oriented views.

FORM

The general layout is a sort of hamlet. The volumes articulate each other, facing different directions and generating consolidated exterior fragments, which are sun shaded and protected from the coastal winds that rise in the afternoons.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

These exterior fragments work as a small urban space in between volumes (tall enough to shape them) where terraces and balconies converge, absorbing the extra density of guests and visits.

The 3 main volumes are similar geometrically, with lofty spaces and upper terraces.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

But the internal configuration varies in each case. What we intended was a ‘theme and variations’ exercise.

MATERIAL

On principle, the house was ‘made in place’. We almost did not use ‘products’ but only ‘materials’. It was planned to sustain significant abuse, so it would ‘age’ and not merely be ‘ruined’ over the time.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

We found about 40m3 recycled 2’’ red oak from demolitions nearby.

The wood was scraped off and used primarily as the outer covering of exterior ventilated walls.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

The best pieces were used in the interior as exposed timber and upper level flooring.

With the shorter ones we made stairs, interior veneer, doors, guardrails, and kitchen and bathrooms countertops.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon

The rest was used in the service area, fences and landscaping. And debris was used as firewood.

Lower level paving runs all along the house, even in the kitchen and bathrooms, and is made out of polished quartz stained concrete.

CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon


CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon


CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon


CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon
CGM House
© Ricardo Torrejon


CGM House
Section 01
CGM House
Section 02
CGM House
Section 03
CGM House
Section 04
CGM House
Section 05
CGM House
Section 06
CGM House
Section 07


CGM House
Elevation 01
CGM House
Elevation 02
CGM House
Elevation 03


CGM House
Ground Floor Plan
CGM House
Second Floor Plan
CGM House
Site plan

Ricardo Torrejon
T +56 9 82490944
Ricardo Torrejon
Eliodoro Yáñez 2586, 7510302 Santiago, Providencia, Región Metropolitana, Chile