CIEN HOUSE
Pezo von Ellrichshausen
YEAR
2011
COLLABORATORS
Bernhard Maurer, Eleonora Bassi, Valeria Farfan, Michael Godden
SITE AREA
530 m2
CLIENT
Pezo von Ellrichshausen Ltda
STRUCTURES
Patricio Bonelli
CONSTRUCTION
Ricardo Ballesta
PLUMBING
Marcelo Valenzuela
ELECTRICAL
Jaime Tatter
CCONSTRUCTION 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
Text description provided by architect.
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.
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. Watch here the previously published video of Cien House, by Cristobal Palma.
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 and a pair of stacked rooms for the night.The living room floor slopes towards the west.
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.
