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2022

MCHAP

Casa Dintel

Palafito Arquitectura

Chía., Cundinamarca, Colombia

July 2022

AUTOR PRINCIPAL

Santiago Pradilla (Arquitectecto)

AUTOR CONTRIBUYENTE

Laura Vispe Jose López Juan David Daz

CLIENTE

Germán Hermida

FOTÓGRAFO

Santiago Beaumé

OBJETIVO

The client, who serves as the director of a laboratory within a prominent concrete company, specifically requests a residence constructed primarily of concrete due to their extensive familiarity and expertise with the material, as well as its affordability and accessibility.
The challenge of using concrete arises from its technical advantages. This includes creating large spans, minimizing pillars, and introducing the prominent lintels that give the house its name. These lintels are large, suspended beams of the structure, serving as thresholds, doors, and also becoming the screens reflecting light from dramatic skylights for natural illumination.
Moreover, meticulous attention is given to the placement of these lintels within the interior spaces, deliberately offsetting them from the internal walls to dynamically alter the perception of spatial boundaries. This deliberate design strategy not only serves to optimize structural integrity but also enhances the architectural dialogue with the surrounding terrain, particularly the previously sculpted landscape of stone and earth.

CONTEXTO

Located in the suburbs of Bogotá, the house occupies a large, flat lot with neighboring constructions that lack significant interest. The house endeavors to make the garden the main focus. The garden is envisioned as a place of rugged topography with small hills that accentuate perspectives and shape spaces. Within these small mountains, the dark stone of the region emerges, creating volumes of straight geometry that complete the formation of the small mountains. Once we have made the place our main focus, then the house appears. In contrast to the volumes of stone and earth, the house emerges as a large monolith attempting to conceal itself, making it feel small and of low height, in order to be subtle and respectful of the urban edge that is unfortunately being filled with constructions that are beginning to blur the rural character that once existed in this place. The monolithic roof also aims to respond to bioclimatic and scenographic concerns with natural lighting.

ACTUACIÓN

The significant technical challenge of pouring all the concrete for the house in a single day proved to be a wise decision. Without cracks or construction joints, the large concrete slab floats above the rocks and rugged topography. The thick roof utilizes its depth to create various types of zenithal light entries, blurring the distinction between indoors and outdoors. These zenithal lights create highly scenic sensations and also effectively heat the house, as nowadays the heating is never turned on, resulting in energy savings.

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