Within one of the many residential complexes that have been developing in the surroundings of the city of Bogotá, in the Yerbabuena village; CasaCG+PU is located under privileged conditions of native forest and great views.
the concept.
A project born from the concept of duality; understood as the property of what is double or that contains in itself two natures. A duality that is reflected in the entire design process, from the understanding of the lot, dual in its two halves with different vegetation conditions; dual, in terms of the difference in the vision of each of the owners; and dual, in the adaptation of an architectural dream following the rules of the residential complex. This duality then becomes the true design challenge.
The duality of the place is defined by a lot divided by nature, in which its upper half is a forest of native species; that contrasts with the lower half of the lot, an area free of vegetation and with a gentle slope that allows it to open up to the best views of the distant landscape to the east, marking a good part of the Sabana Bogotana.
The owners, a couple with different origins, ages, tastes, dreams, influences and even experiences in relation to their way of living, represented an interesting challenge as a dual vision, but from a common life project… Differences as a vision of rustic housing on one side and a contemporary architectural vision on the other; the impact that this represented in the materiality. We identified the common points of the couple, so as not to work with extremes, but from the possibilities that the intersections between both essences could offer us.
the place.
The lot presented us with the union between the two plant occupations as the common point that would allow us to generate and enjoy two fronts, two landscapes, two relationships. Thus, the implantation of the house is proposed from apparently independent volumes, placed in the central point between the two landscapes, turning and fragmenting to adapt, fully respecting the existing trees, and framing its main visuals with extra turns in the different windows oriented in precise directions, in turn allowing social uses to be isolated from private ones despite being on the same façade planes. In the back, the relationship is directly towards the forest through windows and perforations of various sizes and positions.
the design.
After long days of conversation and exploration, the owners' passion for the camping experience appeared on the horizon; marked by its important connection with nature and the action of “walking through it” but understanding the place and the climate, and solving the comfort of daily life; as a basis to fulfill the dream that their aspirations of coexistence and materiality could meet again in the same way of living.
Despite the fact that, initially, due to the very origin of the action of camping, the references of the volumetry by the owners were oriented to similar forms, of sloping roofs more related to the tents and in some way with the ancient and traditional architecture, it became clear in the process that what inspired them was not the form but the experience.
For what the action started from recognizing the place and its characteristics, the distribution of the project was resolved in independent volumes that are connected through glass tunnels open to the landscape, representing the experience of moving within the forest from a "tent" to other. In this way, the house is presented as a route between its spaces, in which at each change of room there is a strong visual relationship with the surrounding landscape and its vegetation through patios or glass connectors.
The house is then formed as a single-level project that, due to the way the clients live, is understood as a house for everyone in contact with the landscape, but with a special feature in the main room that appears as a semi-independent space. on a second level giving it independence. In addition, the owners requested to resolve their home with an easily washable hard floor for the freedom they wanted to give their large dogs, in response to which, and understanding the low temperatures in the area, it was proposed to invert the conventional hardness quality of the materials. commonly associated with "soft" floors, walls and hard roofs, by washable hard floors in concrete and walls and ceilings in wood.
