Felipe Assadi Arquitectos

Guthrie House

GUTHRIE HOUSE

Felipe Assadi & Francisca Pulido

Interior view toward a bathroom and the gravel courtyard, with a white display shelf and red cabinet.

AREA
140.0 m2

YEAR
2007

LOCATION
Colina, Chile

CATEGORY
Houses

Sunken courtyard of Guthrie House, with concrete walls, a gravel garden, and glazed rooms.

Text description provided by architect.

The commission was received from a real estate firm which wanted the design of a repeatable house, possible of being sited on a slope with 25% average gradient.

The offer should be kept within an acceptable range for a standard user, a newly born family requiring an area not higher than 140 square meters.

Concrete courtyard wall punctuated by circular openings beside broad concrete steps.
Concrete stairs rise beside a wall with regularly spaced circular openings.
View along a red counter toward the white kitchen, with a glazed wall opening onto the gravel courtyard.

On the other hand, the stress should be set on the impact these houses should have among the projects package such offer raise.

It was explicitly requested to build a house for sale, therefore, massively attractive, which "façade" the target public could quickly be absorbed with.

Long red storage unit in front of glazing overlooking the concrete courtyard steps.
White kitchen cabinets beneath an exposed concrete ceiling, with a red storage unit in the foreground.

Notwithstanding, the project location raises as a natural belvedere toward the valley of Chicureo, a zone peripheral to the city of Santiago of growing real estate development and considerably mediocre quality, where the condominium of serialization houses finally owns large green areas.

It deals with new neighbourhoods with architectonic imports of every type, where "style" seems to be the worthiest slogan of the offer.

Flat gravel roof with a paved path and low rooflights, overlooking the valley at dusk.
Guthrie House by Felipe Assadi Arquitectos at dusk, with its courtyard recessed into the roof and valley beyond.

Our proposal was a house without façade, a building to be developed from the street level downwards, rescuing that initial condition of natural "belvedere" over the valley the site proposed.

On the contrary, our proposal was a counterproposal to the façade option, an absolute untying of the "pretty house" real estate concept, which image could adorn a web page accounting for a life style.

Glazed side of the house glowing at dusk, with the valley and mountain silhouettes beyond.
Courtyard and glazed interior at dusk, with a silhouetted figure standing on the roof.

The Guthrie house, therefore, is not just the answer to a housing issue over a medium gradient site, but a critical reflection to the real estate system which final target is to sell "attractive" and at a "good price" houses, built by "goodwill architects". In other words, sell fashion.


Architectural elevation and section drawing showing the house set into a sloping site.
Architectural elevation and section drawings showing the house embedded in the sloped terrain.


Roof plan drawing showing the house footprint, roof access, and surrounding trees.
Floor plan drawing of the house, with rooms arranged around a central living area and courtyard.


Line drawing of Guthrie House’s principal façade, with a human figure and scale for reference.

Felipe Assadi Arquitectos
T +56 9 92213322
Felipe Assadi Arquitectos