just a house

METROQUADRADO®

JUST A HOUSE 04 | 2011

Whatturns a building into a house? The answer seems immediate and obvious: a house is a house! The house is a response to such a primitive and basic need that a definition becomes almost unnecessary. Any human knows it’s meaning as well as its graph-ic representation. It is as natural as breathing.The house protects us from the sun and rain, wind, warm and cold; it protects us from the dangerous outside world and also from our own species.

House what does it means?

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Sheltermeans that house can also protect us from ourselves – our fears, obsessions; and exalt our dreams and wishes. House is refuge. It can make our life a little bit easier or a lot harder. It can help us relax after a hard days work or even forget prob-lems in a nice weekend, or incite our range against the world and lead to violence. House builds personality. To not have a house is like being an orphan. We feel stripped from a part of us, completely exposed. That’s why humans sacrifice so much to have one and, independently of its constitution, we tend to spend most of our savings in it. From the illegal settlement built with all sacrifice to the most luxurious place it as the same meaning, the house is an extension of ourselves.

vHowever it can take up as many forms as cells present in the human body, why? Because independently of our social sta-tus, religion or culture the house reflects our achievements in life, failure our success. House is a social barometer. We might ask then, why design a house without client if it is supposed to reflect him? Because it is the responsibility of architects to understand and interpret the positive and negative aspects of the place and think on the best way to find balance, harmony and sustainability of it with its surroundings so that after, the eventual owner of the house can feel free to dream, live and be happy.

House is shelter

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CONCEPTUAL APPROACH

Theplace used for this study presents as much potential for suc-cess as for failure. A former fisherman’s village has, in recent years, been invaded by city dwellers looking for a nice house near the beach but still close enough to the city so that they can commute everyday. The weak urban control by local authorities as allowed all kinds of land occupation without respect for heights, alignments or density. While the humble older houses present a significant coherence, the new developments threaten to destroy the “seaside village” characteristic of the place.

AA single house is certainly not going to change this reality, but it might try at least, read the place, enhance its main features and compensate somehow the most negative ones hoping that maybe, the next ones to come, will feel inspired to con-tinue this task. This area is characterized by a mix of older ground floor houses with high pitched roofs and a series of recent constructions apparently not following any type of ur-ban rules except not constructing more than 3 floors above ground.This conceptual approach tries to understand the place and take the most advantage of it based on 4 basic principles: Sustainability Privacy Alignment Light

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SITE PLAN 1|700

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W DRW DR

GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1|400

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1ST FLOOR | 2ND FLOOR PLANS 1|400


SECTION 01 | ACROSS STAIR GROUND FLOOR 1|400 SECTION 02 | ACROSS LIGHT PATIO EAST 1|400

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ELEVATIONS NORTH | EAST 1|400


ELEVATION WEST 1|400

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ELEVATION SOUTH 1|400

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2ND FLOOR_BEDROOM

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2ND FLOOR_BATHROOM | DRESSING ROOM | BEDROOM


2ND FLOOR_FROM DRESSING ROOM TO BEDROOM

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GROUND FLOOR_LIVING ROOM

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1ST FLOOR_STAIR CONNECTING TO 2ND FLOOR

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DEVELOPED BY METROQUADRADO®COLABORATION WITH NADEZDA FROLOVA

CONCEPT SERIES 04|2011

just a house

Documents

nice house

aa single house

luxurious place

negative ones

humble older houses

recent years

nice weekend

conceptual approachtheplace