Year of design: 2017 Year of construction: 2018-2019 Location: Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala Design: Paz Arquitectura – Alejandro Paz Participants: Axel Mendoza, Daniel Escobar, Awner Alarcón Photography: Andrés Asturias
BF House is located on a site with a flat topography among a hilly terrain. According to this, the owners requested a one story house to enjoy a large garden, so a basement was designed for a garage. The house has an “L” shape in order to frame the garden and the surrounding hill around it.
In general, transparency was a main goal, visually as well as functionally. The social areas are open and connected evidently and in some cases in a subtle way. The bedrooms located in the long leg of the “L” shape are framed by the master bedroom at the end. The only space located on a second floor is the family room to keep it away from the daily activities.
The walls in the social area are transparent and when privacy was needed, opaque, with the upper and lower edges in glass to give continuity between the interior and exterior.
The roofs are mainly flat slabs with large overhangs to emphasize the lightness of design. They are linked by a concrete cenefa. Such “beltline” was built in exposed concrete unifying all the building.
Noble materials in their natural state were use: wood, concrete, glass, raw steel, water, vegetation and light.