The Alcántara project, designed by Cristián Izquierdo and located in the capital and largest city of Chile, consists of a residential development of eight dwellings around a common space, understood as a passage with continuous edges. 

The project is organized in two programmatic bands, with three houses on the north side and five on the south. The patio houses are organized on the site with an "L" plan that allows for a private patio in each one of them.
The constant rhythm in the design by Cristián Izquierdo blurs the differences of ownership in two unitary volumes over the central passage. This space is filled with a series of planters with cantilevered trees that highlight the entrances to the houses and hide the presence of the large buildings overhead.

The laminated wood structure used to materialize the project is composed of a 77 cm continuous modulation, with mullions exposed to the exterior on the second level, framing the windows towards the boundaries and the passageway.
 

Description of project by Cristián Izquierdo

This set of 8 houses around a common space is located in an irregular plot previously occupied by a large house, at walking distance from the financial center of Santiago. The common space is conceived as a pedestrian walkway with continuous edges, whereas the houses on its sides have a symmetrical “L” plan around a squared courtyard. 

The central walkway is perpendicular to the street, with 3 patio-houses to the north and 5 to the south. Below this level are the parking lots with direct access to each house. The houses main level contains the common areas around the 8 x 8 m. patio with one of its sides attached to the edge of the plot (taking the maxi-mum length allowed by the regulations) and the other to the next house. The second floor contains the bedrooms in a bar attached on both sides to its neighbors, forming two long rectangular pavilions. The laminated wood structure is arranged under a continuous modulation of 77 cm. with its uprights elements exposed to the outside on the second floor.

Towards the courtyards, they frame the bedroom windows, preventing the view of the neighboring house. Towards the walkway, they frame a series of horizontal larch tiles, creating a wall. The repetition of this module qualifies the facades with a constant rhythm that blurs the presence of each house into two unitary volumes above each side of the walkway. Between them, a series of cantilevered planters with trees highlight the entran-ces to the houses and hide the presence of the surrounding large buildings over the sky.

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Architects
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Collaborators
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Erica Pasetti, Francisco Saul. Structural Engineer.- Osvaldo Peñaloza.
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Builder
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Tecton.
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Area
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2.036 sqm.
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Dates
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Project.- 2017 - 2018. Construction.- 2018 - 2019.
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Location
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Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
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Photography
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Cristián Izquierdo Lehmann is an architect graduated with summa cum laude from the Universidad Católica de Chile, receiving the Academic Excellence Award and the Best Final Degree Project Award the year 2009. In 2014 he completed a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design at Columbia University, receiving the Honor Award for Excellence in Design and the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize.

In 2010 he won the competition for a House for the Pilgrims in the Maipú Temple area. Since then he works as independent architect in projects of different sizes and programs, public and private. In 2012 he becomes a partner of Izquierdo Lehmann architects.

His work has been exhibited in Chile and abroad, among them, in the MoMA NY (Young Architect Program, 2015) and in the “Extra-Ordinary” Exhibition (CFA New York, 2016). In 2015 his project House in Futrono was distinguished in the XIX Chilean Architecture Biennale. He is professor of theory and studio at the Universidad Católica de Chile.
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Published on: November 18, 2021
Cite: "A passage of continuous edges. 8 Houses in Alcántara street by Cristián Izquierdo" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/a-passage-continuous-edges-8-houses-alcantara-street-cristian-izquierdo> ISSN 1139-6415
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