Architecture that looks,
and lets you look
A place where the hillside becomes water. A lake that, on the horizon, turns back into mountain and finally carries on into endless sky.
Pueblo Chico grew out of an unusual commission: a client willing to try something different, and a team of architects who decided that, faced with the immensity of the landscape, architecture should answer with simplicity and modesty. This is the statement its authors wrote.
Simplicity, modesty and landscape
The inescapable presence of the landscape demanded our respect and contemplation. Our client dared to try a different proposal, an alternative and more authentic one. Faced with the immensity of nature, the architecture aims to respond with simplicity and modesty. Architecture looks and lets you look; it frames, emphasizes and, at the same time, complements.
A proposal of pure volumes, planes and points that advance and recede to converse with the landscape… that step down and break to adapt to the terrain… colors, textures and materials that go along with it.
The cycles and variations of the sun, the light, the lake and the vegetation gradually tint the architecture with vitality and movement. A gradation of space that allows the transition from inside to outside: simple interiors that shelter, eaves and half-shaded verandas that protect, exteriors to be enjoyed.
The proposal rests on the simplicity of its forms, the plainness of its materials and the omnipresence of the landscape.
L. Bertona · D. Sánchez · N. Ramos · N. Bertona, architects
The proposal rests on the simplicity of its forms, the plainness of its materials and the omnipresence of the landscape.The architects' statement
Three ideas that hold the project together
What you read in the statement, you see in every house: a way of being in the place without imposing on it.
Respect for the landscape
The presence of the lake and the hills demanded respect and contemplation. The architecture frames, emphasizes and complements: it never competes with what lies in front of it.
Volumes in conversation
Pure volumes, planes and points that advance and recede. They step down and break to follow the terrain, with colors and materials that go along with it.
Inside and outside
Simple interiors that shelter, eaves and half-shaded verandas that protect, exteriors to be enjoyed. The sun, the light, the lake and the vegetation do the rest.
Design and technical direction
Four architects signed the design and technical direction of Pueblo Chico; a fifth collaborated on its development.
Collaborator: Celeste Teijeiro, architect