The architectural studio TEC Taller EC developed the restaurant structure in two ways: one open-air, using the sky as another skin, like a flexible garment that the user can appropriate, and another, intervening in pre-existing warehouses that open towards the interior and turn towards controlled nature, giving the diner the sensation of being in a forest.
The project intends to raise what they call "existential spaces" up to the treetops to reinforce the idea of bringing the experience closer to the climate. This is achieved through a series of walkways that frame the relationship of the patio with the sky and that draw the spatial limits that are projected onto the roof. In addition, this walkway functions as an intersection between the interior and the exterior, housing spaces both above and below it, connecting the protected interior with the open-air spaces and the light.
Katari Cumbayá by TEC Taller EC. Photograph by Paolo Caicedo.
Project description by TEC Taller EC
In one of the eastern valleys adjacent to the city of Quito, next to its main square and behind one of the facades of heritage interest, is Katari Cumbaya, a restaurant that is born from the intervention on the built space, two pre-existing warehouses and a residual garden are configured, after the intervention, as the sum of architectural experiences.
An attitude towards design decisions that put the subject who lives nature before isolated volumetric or formal intentions, these are spaces at the service of spatial perceptions, Juhani Pallasmma would call them "existential spaces", to distinguish them from physical and geometric spaces. Katari is not a project that is seen from the outside as a static object or a shell, it is a project that is experienced from within as a living organism.
The Patio. From residual space to protagonist
The first gesture diagonally connects a small garden anteroom with the main natural space, all eyes are now turned towards this controlled nature of abundant and generous trees, the naves open towards the interior and the patio is perceived as a forest. The circulation is drawn from the design of the walkways, small islands that contain the trees. On the outside, the program is a service bar next to the living spaces. The open-air space is a flexible covering so that the user can appropriate it and take advantage of the storm.
Walkways. Inhabiting the treetops
The most forceful intention is to raise the "existential spaces" to the treetops. It reinforces the idea of bringing the experience closer to the climate, it is an open structure, of mobility and elevated living space from the ground in direct relation to the verticality of the vegetation.
The walkways frame the relationship between the courtyard and the sky, drawing spatial boundaries and projecting over the roof of the main façade towards the public space in a viewing platform that faces the city.
The space below the walkway becomes an intersection between the interior and the exterior, a permeable space for exchange, whether for living or circulation, this intermediate space connects the protected and conditioned interiors with those that try to inhabit the air and the light.
Cenotes, seeking light above all
In the interior space the pre-existing roof is intervened, the umbrella is torn to be able to see the stars. Three serial elements configured with metal cylinders open in the middle of the naves to bring light into an originally dark volume.
We do not live in an objective world of matter and facts, the characteristically human form of existence takes place in the world of possibilities and is shaped by our capacity to imagine and fantasize. The proposal of TEC Taller EC in Katari Cumbaya allows itself to break the limits of an object architecture to make the leap to an architecture of emotion, surprise and experience, the commission demands it, and the answers that are found are always spatial, they do not cease to be architectural, approached from the joy of the game, the architecture takes on meaning.
