Barrio: Los Puentes, Narino, Colombia
   
Domestic Fundamentals
   
ink monoprints
case study houses
 

Estella's House

A delicate and open wooden frame covered by a canopy. Rooms are marked by curtain walls which vary in height and solidity depending on privacy. The bedroom's walls are the highest. The back of the house, where children swim and work is done, has the lowest wall and is open to the ocean. A shutter and double door vary the privacy of the opposite wall which fronts the street. Parts of this house were salvaged from the previous house. Four people live here.

 

   

Store - House

The front of this house is one half living area and one half food and dry-goods store. This space is open to the street-bridge but can be closed by letting down the awning shutter and closing the front door. A roof overhang helps to extend the store further into the street, protecting outdoor patrons from the rain and sun. This part of the house is distinctly separated, from the dark private areas within, by a full height wall made thick with shelving. Five people live here.

   

Welder's House

The welder, who has a family of seven, makes steel security grates for doors and windows. He does this on the front porch (where he can hook directly into the electricity lines over the street-bridge). Originally wooden this house is slowly being reconstructed and added onto with brick and poured concrete. There is a perception of permanence and status which comes with the masonry construction. It is tightly enclosed and dark with few windows and very small openings for ventilation. Windows on the front facade are glazed to reduce noise from the street.

  Design development sketches for Estella's House