Artadi Architects

Huaira 01

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

HUAIRA 01

Javier Mera Luna + Diana Salvador

ARCHITECTS
Diana Salvador, Javier Mera Luna

INGENIERO ESTRUCTURAL
Patricio Cevallos

DISEÑO BIOCLIMÁTICO Y CONTROL DE HUELLA DE CARBONO
Grace Yépez, Nicolas Salmon

ARQUITECTOS A CARGO
Javier Mera Luna,diana Salvador

PHOTOGRAPHS
Jag Studio

DISEÑO MOBILIARIO Y SISTEMA CONSTRUCTIVO
Juan Subía

AREA
40 M²

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Ecuador

CATEGORY
Houses

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

"This is a place where you can be naked," the site tells us. HUAIRA sits in front of a small river that roars and seeks the shade of the vegetation to protect itself while joining the landscape.

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

The mission, a specific need, a refuge outside the city, a contact with the essence of nature. A solution to a problem without generating more.

The impact of this construction is scientifically quantified and evidenced in order to create an architecture with a negative carbon footprint.

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

The more significant design challenges: ventilation in a hot humid climate and a defense mechanism against heavy rain most of the year.

Simple strategies generate local technology; low cost, replicable, adaptable to weather conditions, scalable, modular, expandable and removable technology.

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

The architectural response is simple but not obvious, a "Low Tech" strategy based on the radical decision to use plywood as the basis of this technology.

Wood, stone, metal, glass and tetrapack intervene in a pure and proportional way to consolidate an environmentally balanced element.

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

Each material was assessed by its efficiency and flexibility. Plywood provides structure and containment, tetrapack acts as an umbrella and glass eliminates the barrier between the interior and the exterior.

Bioclimatic strategies based on dynamic thermal simulations were proposed, in order to combine function with interior comfort.

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

The structure was elevated due to the resilience needed to the heavy rain or river flooding, taking advantage of the inertia and the cold air chamber generated under the building.

The walls and the roofs form a double layer that contain structural beams and generate another air chamber, guaranteeing the adequate ventilation of the interior space.

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

Floor and wall perforations enable a cross air supply. The removable double layer solution of the roof allows to control direct sunlight without losing the connection with the sky and the environment.

Huaira becomes a constructive system itself, a set of techniques and decisions for a problem that needed to be solved, the sum of multiple simple processes that solve a great complexity.

Comparing it with a conventional construction system, Huaira obtains an encouraging result where the carbon footprint is negative, sequestering 3360 kg of carbon and emitting 1679 kg.

Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio

The greatest contribution of the Huaira system is to generate local technology by itself and, simultaneously to transform the space into experiences linked with imperceptible details of life.


Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio
Huaira 01
© JAG Studio


Huaira 01
Plan vs real
Huaira 01
Ground floor plan
Huaira 01
1st floor plan


Huaira 01
Cross section
Huaira 01
Longitudinal section


Huaira 01
Model 01
Huaira 01
Model 02

Artadi Architects
T +51 1 2226261 M +51 999 241400
Artadi Architects
LIMA, Av. Camino Real 111 of 701, San Isidro, Peru