LINE + LAB CSQ Farmhouse Villavicencio, CO
PROJECT TEAM: Architects: LINE + LAB Location: V. Carmen, Restrepo, Meta, Colombia Architects in charge: José Zea, Jaqueline Zea. Development group: José Amaya, Juan Cardenas Area: 272.5 m2 Project year: 2017 Photographs: José Zea, Laura Velásquez Project manager: Jaqueline Zea Structural Engineer: Ruddy Ramirez Master Builder: Jaime Cañon Master Carpenter: Diógenes Pinto Stone Expert: Edgar Prieto Electricians: Rodolfo Rodríguez
CSQ Farmhouse Site Plan
CSQ Farmhouse
Restrepo, Meta, Colombia
BRIEF: Located in the foothills of the Andes, the region is characterized by a tropical warm-humid weather that runs through most of the year. Due to high levels of temperature traditional farmhouses are located close to water bodies to collect the resource during dry-season while cooling down the buildings year-round. In addition to that, homes are surrounded by a vast veranda that accommodates most of the uses; this architecture strategy is extensively used because it guarantees constant wind circulation, a permanent supervision of the farm fields and saves money due to the little amount of subdivisions walls required in this farmhouses. The farmhouse accomplished a high level of comfort by using modest and humble design techniques reinterpreted from the cultural landscape. Meanwhile, it preserves and correlates gently with nature and its surrounding landscapes.
Main Farmhouse
The Crops Pier
The site was composed by an abandoned structured built 10 years ago. The former dwelling had deficiencies in the roof structure, high levels of humidity and warm temperature which made deplorable and unsafe living conditions.
Despite having a natural asset next to the building, the former was used as the farm dumpster where solid and liquid garbage was deposited, creating disastrous consequences to nature. The house was acquired by the clients to be used as their principal rural residence to not only supervise the 100 ha farm-fields but also as a vacation destination for the multigeneration client’s family.
The language and logic of the building rest along one central principle, a unified veranda that runs through the farmhouse. This linear space host a broad and adaptable variety of uses. The 5 mt wide and L shape veranda, manages all the social areas of the houses by correlating them with the immediate landscape in front of them.
The original wood beams of the roof are used to create tables for two living rooms.
In the intersection of the two axes of the veranda is the kitchen. This space becomes a middle ground for social interaction serving the two facades that host different family generations according to a dynamic and simultaneous use of the space that works for the whole family. The Veranda is flanked by six enclosed blocks that were re-purposed to hold the areas that required more privacy -the bedroom and bathroom units-.
The louvre doors, kitchen cabinets and central deck are made from locally grown teakwood and constructed by a local master carpenter.
At the south-west is the natural river that becomes a significant player in the design. The proposal celebrates and preserves the river as a system that naturally cools down the veranda generating a symbiotic relationship between the building and nature.
Similarly, the northern façade that faces the Andes Mountains is opened with precision to collect the natural currents of wind. The bathroom is the piece designed to create the natural ventilation system by opening the shower’s ceiling while hosting three simultaneous users at the same time. This passive technique is continuously ejecting the humidity and warm temperatures off the house.
In the guest house, four solid-wood doors are repurposed out of an old parking door from the client’s urban residence.
As an environmental and financial selfimposed limitation, all the preexisting buildings are preserved. Stones are locally sourced in a close-by-river and used to build most of the hard-landscape.
The design of the farmhouse is profoundly influenced by a careful observation of traditional techniques in the material source, passive design strategies, and the culture building know-how.
The building finish is accomplished by the employment of a limebased paint produced on-site. The screen is generated by mixing limestone, locally harvested lemon juice and the earth extracted from the excavation on-site.
This practice not only blends the builtpiece gently with the landscape palette but also has chemical qualities that reduce the creation of humidity and fungus growth.
JOSE/ZEA 2017
LINE + LAB