House between Courtyards / Enrique Browne + Tomás Swett

Architects: Enrique Browne, Tomás Swett
Location: Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile
Architects In Charge: Enrique Browne, Tomás Swett
Area: 340.0 m2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Nico Saieh

Collaborator Architect: Alejandro Armstrong
Constructor: DOMO
Calculating Engineer: Eduardo Rodriguez

From the architect. The design of this single-family house began with the reformulation of a courtyard house and the search for a way to group enclosures in “blocks” according to their level of privacy, their hours of use, their thermal requirements and the views.
Between these “blocks” we defined two essential spaces for a house: The “hall” that divides and communicates the public and the familial; and the “lounge”, an indefinite space that congregates daily family life and where all the rooms converge.

A series of theme patios are attached to the interior spaces extending the limits and functions of the rooms. Therefore, the house is composed of four “blocks”, three of them in masonry with ventilated brick veneer; and the central one with two levels in reinforced concrete with wood board formwork, which articulates and grounds the compound. Its central position defines the patios, the hall and the living room, while standing out from the compound in material and scale. The height of the blocks increases: the greater internal heat gain the greater the ceiling height, seeking to diminish the energy demands while creating comfortable spaces.

The position and orientation of the “blocks” allows a clear view from the interior spaces to the garden and adjacent patios, while completely blocking the view between the rooms. Volume A, facing to the south and the access road, contains the service areas, the kitchen and a future guest room. Volume B houses the living and dining rooms as a single continuous space that opens to the main garden (north) and to a small patio with birches (south). Volume C lodges the children´s bedrooms and bathrooms, facing the east to gain the morning sun. Finally, volume D, facing the best view (mountain range), contains the master bedroom and bathroom on the first level and a study library on the second floor. In the front garden a loose geometric figure with a service yard defines the areas for parking, access and an orchard.