Description

The practice led by Solano Benitez in Asunción, Paraguay, is concerned with the realities of poverty that affect contemporary architectural practices in his and other Latin American countries. For that reason, they have carried out extensive research on the use of brick – the most inexpensive and common construction material in Paraguay – and their projects explore the structural, aesthetic and socio-economic dimensions of this material. That is why, in their projects, brick is made to work as structure, partition, floor finish and ceiling.

Structurally, the Casa Abu &Font could be described as an arch. The party walls contain the structure which supports the first floor slab and the roof. This allows the ground floor to remain a continuous space from the front lawn to the backyard, indeed like an arch that can be closed in the cold days (or whenever necessary) by a series of wood panels that pivot vertically.

The services have been pushed against one of the party walls and are separated from the open living area by a volume which contains two staircases. The width of this volume creates a threshold between the two areas: social and services. An additional ramp on the opposite side of the open living area connects the ground with the first floor, and also helps to conceal the structure. The openness and transparency of the living area removes functional specificity (i.e. there is no dining or living room), turning it into a multi-functional space that can be reinvented by residents according to their needs.

The other two levels of the house, basement and first floor, differ greatly from the ground level and from one another. The basement contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It is a cave-like space with no apertures except for a high ribbon window situated below the wooden deck on the backyard. Although it seems unsuitable, these three bedrooms are designed for habitation during winter, when the outside temperatures may drop to -2 “C. Since the soil keeps a stable temperature, which is warmer than the exterior in winter, the basement bedrooms maintain a pleasant temperature without need for artificial heating. The upper level, on the other hand, is significantly larger than the basement, but the layout is extremely convoluted, even labyrinthine. There are four double bedrooms, two of which are en suite. In contrast to the basement, the bedrooms upstairs are long, narrow and have very high ceilings: 5 metres at the uppermost point. Such a configuration generates a constant airflow and helps to preserve cool air inside the bedrooms during the summer months when the temperature may rise to 47 °C. Indeed, it could be argued that the convoluted circulation strategy obeys environmental concerns in the sense that it creates air locks which preserve the temperature of the bedrooms. There is also a deliberate attempt to generate thresholds between different parts of the house: from the social to the service area on the ground floor, between floors and, also, between hallway and bedrooms in the upper level. This produces a spatial contrast between public and private areas; the former are ample, luminous and transparent while the latter are intimate, shadowy and secluded.

Existing vegetation was preserved as much as possible and new trees were planted in order to increase protection from the summer heat. The Abu & Font House is an exemplary case of formal, technical and environmental exploration where the patterns of occupation are influenced equally by cultural circumstances as by the particularities of location.

 

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