Juan Agustin Garcia Mosqueda

FOTÓGRAFO

Javier Agustin Rojas

OBJETIVO

The cabinet understood as an ambiguous artifact that lies between a piece of furniture and a very small scale architecture; sometimes resolving a technical problem can become poetic; sometimes doing something poetic can become a technical problem; in a world of total urbanization it is difficult to consider there’s any exterior space left; architecture as tool that both restricts and enables uses; efficiency used in the service of freedom and indetermination; the same material can be used in different ways; the same space can be used in different ways; architecture emerges from desires of first necessity. In all these and many other ideas that we’ve learned from other’s architecture, we were thinking when defining 3 simple acts that could describe the project: the demolition of all interior partitions of an existing spatial structure, the construction of a 70cm plinth in the perimeter of the dwelling, the placement of a series of aluminum cabinets that host all technical artifacts on top of a small podium in the center of the remaining spatial structure.

CONTEXTO

Inside out. The refurbishment of an apartment inside a historical building becomes the context to reflect about how preservation can become an architectural opportunity. Large part of the mutations of the contemporary city occur under the mask of the old city appearance. In the Palacio Los Patos this condition is exacerbated due to preservation laws that dictate the complete preservation of the building’s exterior façade, while the interiors can be completely altered. The project takes this condition literally and demolishes all the existing interior structure. The remaining envelope becomes the context in which a new form of life can emerge.

ACTUACIÓN

By demolishing all existing interior partitions, the façade becomes the element that defines the interior spatial quality of the space. Inside, a singular form of life develops from the relationship between the cabinets and the perimeter. The project can be understood as a strategy for tackling phenomena that are happening at urban scale in the domestic landscape. One that understands the city as material in constant transformation and thus restricts all functional aspects to its minimum in an attempt to maximize the possibilities of use and appropriation of the remaining space.