Project: House Between Gardens
Architects: TEC Taller EC
Location: Cumbaya, Ecuador
Area: 3,013 sf
Year: 2023
Photographs by: Paolo Caicedo
Nestled in the idyllic Cumbayá Valley, just a short drive from Quito, the House Among Gardens unfolds as a symphony of space and serenity. A brilliant deconstruction of the single-family typology, this 280m2 abode is a fusion of eight interwoven modules, four open and four built, orchestrated along a clear circulation axis. This architectural ballet blurs the boundary between indoor and outdoor, effortlessly melding with the lush surroundings. Divided into two distinct sections, the rigid service and bedroom areas dance alongside the social heart of the living room, dining area, and kitchen. A harmonious double-height structure, clad in semi-solid brick and crowned by a sleek black metallic roof, stands as an ode to minimalism.
This house breathes with the landscape, embracing cross ventilation and offering an oasis of thermal comfort in response to the valley’s warm climate. A testament to form meeting function, the House Among Gardens gracefully choreographs privacy, connection, and natural harmony into a breathtaking living symphony.
The House Among Gardens is a 280m2 residence located in the Cumbayá Valley, 20 minutes from Quito.
As a concept, the typology of a single-family home is decomposed and formed from a grid of eight modules, four built and four open. These spaces relate to each other and alternate through a clear longitudinal circulation axis that not only connects the spaces but also divides the public and private areas of the house.
This typology of the floor plan allows the house to open towards the gardens and close off the front facade, allowing for greater privacy and a relationship between all the spaces of the house and the green area.
The architectural program is divided into two parts; one that houses all the rigid service and bedroom areas, and the second that houses the social area of the living room, dining room, and kitchen, where the main activity of the house takes place.
These two main volumes were conceived as a double-height free structure, composed of a semi-solid brick base and a black metallic roof that together achieve the minimum possible materiality. It appears orderly from the outside as a product of its programmatic logic and inside, connecting in a section with the private program of the upper floor. Alongside these volumes, and displaced, are two two-story volumes that house the private program.
The result of the design process allows us to read the architecture through the connection of the rooms and gardens connected by an outer ring of pedestrian circulation. The plot has a heavy traffic street in front, which forces us to work on the closed front facade, giving privacy to the house above vehicular and pedestrian flow.
In response to the warm climate of the valley, this play of displacement of rooms and gardens generates cross ventilation in the rooms, allowing for adequate thermal comfort in the residence.
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