Design: Paz Arquitectura Design year: 2018 Construction year: 2019-2020 Construction: CONARQ Electrical design: PTS Hydraulic design: CONARQ Photography: Andrés Asturias
The project consists of a single-family house located in a central area of Guatemala City in a privileged space due to the flatness of the land and the context populated by trees. The main challenge was to be able to contain all the spaces in an efficient way and for the house to always enjoy the benefits of its context.
It was decided to place the parking spaces in a basement, achieving optimal use of the garden and taking advantage of the entire width of the property to be able to locate an open social area linked to the garden. It was also sought to have a direct dialogue with the street and the city so that the pedestrian entrance and the main façade maintained a predominant position.
The main facade of the house on its first level is occupied by the main door and the access to the basement, while the second level stands out for a mural made with handmade liquid cement floors, which is designed in different shades of green to maintain a dialogue with the surrounding vegetation.
The first floor of the house works in an open and fluid “L” shape so that from the entrance (hall and main stairs) they connect with the social area (living room, dining room and social kitchen) through its vertex (living room and fireplace). Along the entire front of the social area there is a pergola, which forms a link with the garden.
The connection to the second level is carried out through a module of sculptural steps built in raw metals, tempered glass and steps of conacaste wood. In the atrium there is a textile piece by the Guatemalan contemporary artist Antonio Pichillá. On the second level, the atrium connects to the family room area and has 4 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom.
The materials used in the house consist of exposed concrete handled in two ways, in its natural cast state, cementitious gray smoothing, and polished concrete floors for the social area. Conacaste wood veneers and black stone in large-format slabs were used to provide the house with natural details that contrast with its geometric and orthogonal shapes. When metals were used, they were left exposed in their natural state, and the pergolas (atrium and exterior pergola) were made of conacaste type wood and glass. The dining table was built using old railroad ties. And the bathrooms were covered with handmade liquid cement mosaics and cementitious finishes combined with light white oak type wood.