Design House is a temporary exhibition organized by Galería NC and El Buen Ojo. Conceived as a collective exercise, it invites eight architecture studios to transform domestic spaces through site-specific interventions. Furniture, artworks, everyday objects, textiles, lighting, and material finishes come together to create environments that express contemporary approaches to living.
For the 2025 edition, under the theme Infinite Matter, each studio was invited to develop a proposal through the exploration of a specific material as the starting point for the design. Jardín Mineral is ar_ea's response to the design of a home office, developed through an investigation of brick as the project's primary material.
The proposal explores the spatial, constructive, and sensory possibilities of clay, understood not only as a building material but as the material origin of the project itself. Embedded within the table is a mineral garden composed of raw clay fragments extracted directly from the quarry and left to dry naturally, without intervention. Presented in their natural state, the fragments reveal the origin of the material and establish a direct connection to the earth from which they come.
Jardín Mineral materializes an exploration of form and construction through patterns, formats, finishes, and different arrangements of clay-based products. Pressed bricks are stacked in a running bond, floor tiles are positioned vertically and rotated 45 degrees, solid bricks are placed upright, and façade bricks are used in both vertical and horizontal orientations. The proposal is structured around two complementary architectural elements: a porous screen wall as the vertical component and a table-desk as the horizontal element.
Faced with the challenge of designing a home office through the exploration of brick as the project's primary material within a space of only 15 square meters, the proposal focuses on these two complementary elements. Together, they define the spatial organization while establishing a dialogue between enclosure and occupation.
The screen wall draws on the tradition of tropical architecture, where masonry walls act as porous filters that regulate light, air, and the relationship with the exterior. Its configuration, composed of brick elements arranged in multiple orientations, creates a permeable boundary that introduces depth, shifting patterns of light and shadow, and a gradual transition between inside and outside.
The table is conceived as an architectural element composed of pressed brick columns and vertically arranged façade brick tiles. At its center, it incorporates a mineral garden formed by raw clay fragments that reveal the material's origin while introducing a temporal dimension to the project, as their color and appearance gradually change through drying and oxidation.
Brick is paired with stainless steel as a material counterpoint. The smooth, precise, and reflective surface of the steel contrasts with the dense, porous texture of the brick, reinforcing the dialogue between craftsmanship and contemporary construction.
The entire system was developed through mechanical connections, allowing it to be preassembled in Medellín, transported to Bogotá in separate components, and assembled on site at the gallery. Due to its approximate weight of 500 kg/m², the proposal required an efficient assembly and disassembly system that minimized the use of adhesives while facilitating transportation and installation.
The project also incorporates the sound of water through a fountain carved from Terra Gris natural stone, introducing an acoustic and contemplative dimension as an integral part of the spatial experience.
Team:
Architecture and design: ar_ea
Curator: Mónica Barreneche
Photography: Mónica Barreneche, Mateo Soto
Lighting design: Estudio DEDOS
Chair: Santiago Restrepo
Artist: Vanessa Gómez
Collaborators
Bricks: Clayhouse
Fountain: In collaboration with Pietra
