Canales Lombardero's design proposes, through different architectural elements, a balance between containment and spatial fluidity. A process that is reflected in the formalization of the pyramidal pillars, which become elements of transition between the thinness of the "soul" of the large beams of the porch frieze and the dispersion of the dwarf pillars used for the foundation.
The renovation is completed with a large glass enclosure with hardly any frame, superimposed on the glass floor of the lower patio, whose arrangement generates a sought-after ambiguity about what is inside and what is outside, about what is above and what is below, blurring the limits of the dwelling.
Silberberg house by Canales Lombardero. Photograph by Elena Almagro.
Silberberg house by Canales Lombardero. Photograph by Elena Almagro.
Description of project by Canales Lombardero
This small extension and reform project of the ground floor and underground floor for a single-family home seeks to generate new relationships between the main spaces of the house (living room/dining room/terrace/kitchen/games room) and to create greater amplitude for them. This is achieved not only by the demolition of the rear wall of the house, which is moved one meter outward, and the construction of a new porch occupying the entire facade in connection with the garden, but also through the openness that now grants it as a unified space. To generate this rear extension, it is also necessary to cover an unused sunken patio, linking the games room with the main room through its cross view in section.
One of the main design issues is to strike a balance between spatial containment and fluidity. This is pursued following two design attitudes. The first is to grant certain independence to each of the main architectural elements that are incorporated. Thus, the pyramidal pillars or the frieze made up of gigantic IPN 600 beams, with their autonomy and particular visual weight, anchor points of reference within a space that is otherwise completely fluid. The second is to generate a certain ambiguity of the limits themselves through displacements and tensions. This is manifested for example in how the glass enclosure is superimposed over the sunken patio. Furthermore, this sliding enclosure, with hardly any frame and a large format, produces reflections and transparencies depending on its layout, generating doubts about what is inside and what is outside. Also, the line of elements embedded in the pre-existing enclosure (columns, downspouts, rise of installations), is voluntarily shown as a heterogeneous group in which a somewhat ambiguous order is intuited, and which in turn is superimposed on the new closing line creating a spatially expanded boundary. Finally, traditionally suburban perimeter closure elements, such as the hedge, appear over the enclosure of the house itself, although this hedge must still grow for the aforementioned effect to be appreciated.
