Description

Queja, which in Spanish means “complaint“, is the name of this house located in San Antonio, a traditional neighbourhood only a few blocks away from the centre of Cali, the third largest city of Colombia. Although the neighbourhood was founded in the early 20th century, most of the houses were large rammed earth structures designed according to the colonial typology of volumes grouped around a central courtyard. During the 1960s and 1970s the area deteriorated due to the appearance of new affluent residential neighbourhoods in the suburbs. Consequently, many of the original houses were subdivided by speculative developers, subdivisions which generated long and narrow houses with lateral half-courtyards, instead of quadrangles.

Casa de la Queja, built 1992-1998, is a reinterpretation of the half-courtyard typology which resulted from the subdivision of the original properties. The result is an unassuming and inward-looking design. Following the traditional layout, most living spaces are accommodated on a linear fringe along the western half of the rectangular plot. On the eastern side, there is a succession of three courtyards one must traverse in order to reach the back of the house. Separating the courtyards are three perpendicular volumes, or crossings, each with a specific function: the northernmost (at front) contains the garage and the master bedroom, the middle crossing consists of a double-height living room and the southernmost contains two bedrooms.

As in traditional colonial houses, access is gained through a zaguan, a narrow corridor that leads to the first courtyard. A colonnade surrounds the courtyard leading to the living room located in the centre of the house. The living room faces the second courtyard which is occupied entirely by a pond full of vegetation. Water and vegetation create a micro-climate for the social area of the house which is fresh and secluded. The colonnade continues beyond the pond where a narrow passage between the eastern party wall and the bedrooms leads to the third and southernmost courtyard where there is a small swimming pool surrounded by palm trees. From this courtyard it is possible to climb up to the roof where a series of intimate nooks offer views of the city. The generous climatic conditions of Cali allowed architect Benjamin Barney to create an architecture that does not require mechanical means of ventilation; nor is there the need for illumination during the day.

A minimum number of original rammed-earth walls were kept at the entrance of the house, mainly in order to preserve its exterior image. However, all new walls are made of concrete blocks. The oversized circular columns around the three courtyards were executed in cast in-situ concrete, as well as the floor slabs which were cast on a wooden deck that forms the ceiling underneath the concrete. The three perpendicular crossings are covered by 45° terracotta-tiled pitched roofs – as is traditional in the region. All structural materials are exposed; nothing is covered by plaster or painting or by any other means. Thus, Barney’s house articulates a traditional building typology that was introduced by the Spanish colonisers with contemporary industrial materials put together by artisan builders.

The house was shortlisted for the second Mies van der Rohe Award for Latin American Architecture, along with Rafael Iglesia’s Casa en La Barranca.

 

 

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Originally published in: Felipe Hernández, Beyond Modernist Masters. Contemporary Architecture in Latin America, Birkhäuser, 2009.