Juan Alberto Andrade adds workspace to multifamily housing in Ecuador
CategoriesArchitecture

Juan Alberto Andrade adds workspace to multifamily housing in Ecuador

Ecuadorian architect Juan Alberto Andrade has completed an extension to a multifamily housing complex with rammed earth walls in Guayaquil.

Known as El Retiro, the nine-square metre (97-square foot) addition doubles the common space of a 305-square metre (3,282-square foot) residential complex, protruding into the front setback along the street and blurring the line between the private housing and urban realm.

El Retiro residential extensionEl Retiro residential extension
El Retiro is a residential extension to an Ecuadorian home

Following Mexica architect Lucía Martín López’s idea of “the growing house,” Juan Alberto Andrade utilised a strategy for adapting housing López calls “crystallographic growth”: intervening within the limits of the property and following the area and height limits of the neighbourhood.

“Architecture is a response to the continuous need for the reinvention of a habitat,” the team told Dezeen. “Housing is an activity, a built process.”

Rammed earth residential extensionRammed earth residential extension
Rammed earth clads the external walls

Completed in 2022, the simple square addition is composed of a load-bearing, 30-centimetre-thick rammed earth wall – set on top of a limestone rock base – and bahareque masonry, which is a combination of a bamboo frame and clay plaster.

Despite being a different colour than the existing structure, the shape and materiality of the addition works to blend it with the house and the neighbourhood, as does the leafy landscaping along the street.

Communal workspaceCommunal workspace
Juan Alberto Andrade added a workspace to the house

A lightweight pine roof structure slopes from the existing exterior wall to the edge of the addition and is topped by a green metal roof.

Inside, the resin floor serves as a smooth contrast to the raw wooden ceiling and built-in millwork.

Resin flooringResin flooring
Resin floors serve as a smooth contrast to the raw wooden ceiling

A sliding iron door opens to the compact interior, which houses a social space, library, and storage along the street and steps up to a common workspace within the existing floor plan.

A freestanding metal core was inserted into the centre of the plan, joining the addition to the existing room with a kitchenette and bathroom.

Tree within the centre of the extension planTree within the centre of the extension plan
A planted atrium allows a tree to rise in the centre of the plan

A small planted atrium allows a 25-year-old tree to rise in the centre of the plan and light to filter into the building.

A square wooden window – protected by sliding metal shutters – looks across the street to a community park. The pivoting window frame can be opened and the deep structural wall becomes a secondary desk space.

“El Retiro is a project of extension and attachment from an independent body to a multifamily housing, that serves and transforms preexistence into a productive habitat,” the team said.

It was an opportunity to “build specific, viable and productive solutions that attend the progressive growth of housing, and to take advantage of the residual spaces generated by Ecuador’s policies”.

Window with sliding metal shuttersWindow with sliding metal shutters
A square wooden window is protected by sliding metal shutters

Maximizing small spaces is a pillar of Andrade’s practice. He previously designed a flexible installation for a micro apartment in Quito and converted a 1993 Chevy van into a plywood “house-on-wheels” with María José Váscones.

The photography is by JAG Studio.


Project credits:

Architect: Juan Alberto Andrade
Team: Cuqui Rodríguez, María José Váscones, Melissa Toasa, Victoria Peralta, Duda Rodriguez
Suppliers: Baldosas del Ecuador, Acesco, Megakywi

Reference

Hamptons artist studio by Worrell Yeung is tucked among the trees
CategoriesArchitecture

Hamptons artist studio by Worrell Yeung is tucked among the trees

Architectural studio Worrell Yeung has completed a two-storey, black-coloured home extension called Springs Artist Studio that is meant to offer the “experience of being perched in the trees”.

The Brooklyn-based firm was tasked with designing the 800-square-foot (74-square-metre) addition for a Long Island house belonging to a florist and a painter.

Black-stained artist studioBlack-stained artist studio
Worrell Yeung tucked a Hamptons artist studio among the trees

The couple has an extensive collection of art and special objects. Their home is located in Springs, a hamlet in East Hampton that is popular with artists.

“The hamlet of Springs has a strong history of painting,” said Max Worrell, co-founder and principal of Worrell Yeung. “We were drawn to that lineage; Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler and Jane Freilicher all painted out here.”

Artist studio interior by Worrell YeungArtist studio interior by Worrell Yeung
It is an addition to a Long Island home

The team conceived a two-storey addition that contains a painting studio on the upper level and an exhibition space down below that doubles as a garage.

The ground floor also has a powder room.

Artist studio interior featuring a gabled roofArtist studio interior featuring a gabled roof
The building has a gabled roof

In response to strict zoning rules and environmental sensitivities, the studio created a small-footprint building that preserved existing trees and minimised the overall impact on the landscape.

Rectangular in plan, the building has a gabled roof and walls clad in pine boards that were stained black to match the main house.

Birch plywood interiorsBirch plywood interiors
Interior finishes include birch plywood

Different-sized boards were used “to create a sense of shifting, lateral scale that counters the vertical massing of the structure”.

The lower portion of the building is covered in 12-inch-wide boards (30 centimetres), while the upper areas are clad in 4-inch and 1-inch versions (10 and 2.5 centimeters).

In the power room, the birch plywood has been stained blue

“From afar the studio reads as an abstract volume,” the architects said.

“Up close, the textured wood and varied-sized planks break down the scale of the building to something more accessible and rich with detail.”

The black cladding is interrupted on the upper level by a band of ribbon windows.

The architects worked with Silman Structural Engineers to create the continuous windows, which are supported by steel-rod cross bracing and slender steel columns that match the mullions.

Within the building, the four-foot-tall (1.2-metre) ribbon windows offer immersive views of the landscape.

“Natural light streams in while unique views appear from each direction, framed by unobstructed glass corners,” the team said.

Ribbon windows in extension by Worrell Yeung Ribbon windows in extension by Worrell Yeung
These offer immersive views of the landscape

“We wanted to create this experience of being perched in the trees – a retreat for working,” added Jejon Yeung, cofounder of Worrell Yeung.

Interior finishes include birch plywood, which was used for flooring, walls and cabinetry. In the powder room, the plywood is stained a rich shade of blue.

The decor includes vintage Eames molded fibreglass chairs and a vintage chandelier by David Weeks.

Black cabin in the woodsBlack cabin in the woods
The siding was painted black to match the main house

The addition is connected to the main home by a glazed passageway that brings in the natural surroundings while “providing a moment of respite between home and the studio/work environment”.

Other projects by Worrell Yeung include a series of gabled timber buildings on a New York farm and a refresh of a cedar-clad dwelling on Long Island that was originally designed by famed US architect Charles Gwathmey.

The photography is by Naho Kubota.


Project credits:

Architecture: Worrell Yeung
Design team: Max Worrell, Jejon Yeung, Yunchao Le Structural Engineer: Silman
Contractor: Fifth and Dune

Reference