House in Tintillo Hills
The residence for this family lies on a vast site of 50,000 square feet perched on the side of Tintillo Hill. Overlooking the city it is the most exclusive location in San Juan. Our initial concept for this project was to re-interpret the formal designs of modernism in a tropical setting.
The main body of the residence was built with reinforce concrete, steel, and glass. The structure was developed to hang down from piloti that rise from the foundation on an inverted loading scheme. This liberated the horizontal plan of the residence to be easily arranged as needed with little interference from bearing elements.The residence was developed with two cores of private functions: One core contains the adults’ master bedroom, library, and studio. The second core contains the children’s bedrooms, study, and play rooms. One vast open, double height space for all public activities articulates the connection between the cores. The open central space is the heart of all family life and various activities at the residence. All the vertical double height surfaces in the structure are glass. The sky, sun, wind, tropical forest, and the city of San Juan become the backdrop for life at home.
House in Guaynabo
This residence sits on 12,000 square feet of a slopped site, surrounded by other residences. The need for privacy was an important consideration the family requested, as was the desire to create views and a sense of space beyond the immediate confines of the site. The design and organization of both the exterior and interior spaces developed from these concerns.
The original structure at the site was demolished. The new residence is built with reinforced concrete, steel, and glass. The natural slope at the site was used on the exterior to enhance the height, majesty, and presence of the residence. In the interior spaces the slope gave the opportunity to create multiple levels of articulation. Special care was put in the design of the roof structure. Rather than the typical concrete and steel structure, the roof structure is built with certified harvested Brazilian Ipe wood.
The particular Ipe Wood was chosen for its warm coloration and rich texture. Throughout the residence there is a subtle dialogue between the open and closed spaces, the private and public realms, with each element enhanced by the articulation of the wood frame roof structure. The combination of natural light, open spaces, exterior-interior views, and the Ipe wood roof structure establishes a peaceful tropical setting for family life.
Townhouse in Garden Hills
This project was a partial demolition and re-design of the interior of a property in the heart of Guaynabo City. The original property was the typical post-WW2 townhouse development. The interior was a collection of small rooms, corridors, and family space. We sought a novel approach to provide the residence with a new open, comfortable life. The approach developed for this project was to expand all the interior space as a single, holistic unit. All interior partitions where demolished. The entrance to the property was relocated, the back garden space and jacuzzi area was re-developed, the kitchen was relocated, and the family room, dining area, and foyer where consolidated. All physical boundaries between all these spaces where eliminated. Geometry, activities, views, light, and natural flow of movement thru the spaces create the new boundaries between functions. But perception encompasses the whole of the space as one grand unit. The labyrinthine former townhouse, becomes a majestic space framed by light, views, and islands of activities.
House in Urb. Santa Maria
The original residence’s structure is located on a large 26,000 square feet site, with beautiful uncluttered views of the sky, a large pool area, and plenty of landscaped grounds. But all the original interior spaces where small, with restricted views; and with no dialogue between the unique qualities of light and nature at the site and the inside space. The client’s request was to -”crack open the residence like an egg and let the light in”-.
The proposed designed demolished most of the existing structure to develop large spaces with few physical boundaries between them.
The new residence is constructed with reinforce concrete, cement, glass, and steel. It is organized with two clusters, one containing all private areas of the residence, bedrooms, study rooms, library; and the other cluster with the public areas such as kitchen, family room, dining room, and utility functions. The mediator between the clusters is the central open space of the residence. The pool area, gazebo, and backyard patio are a continuation/extension of the internal family spaces. Activity, light, views, and shadow will provide demarcations between the new spaces. All corners encountered in the residence will erode from view to invite the beholder to explore and discover. Guests are never confronted directly with a wall. Large picture windows and perspective views will frame the surrounding site as backdrops to the family activities.
The residence is currently under construction with the expected project delivery date of April 2014.
House in Garden Hills
The project was a partial re-modeling of the front facade, entrance, and the backyard patio. The owner operated her business from her residence and requested a “Modern statement” for the design.
The front entrance wall and interior space was demolished. The entrance area was re-designed as an interior courtyard, and a pre-cast concrete wall was erected. Seven 12’x12’ beams of Douglas Fir, sanded smooth, treated with color, and weather sealed where laid over the new interior courtyard. The concept was for a facade that requests attention and judgment from the public.
The iconic public face of the residence becomes an intimate moment in the interior courtyard, with filtered sunlight, water, and landscaping to welcome the visitor to the residence.
In the backyard patio the existing wooden slat roof was removed. The design needed to address the two contradicting requirements of “covered vs. exposed”. A new glass structure, supported by a lightweight aluminum frame was designed. A system of movable panels was developed. The panels are laid on a grid in the aluminum frame structure, underneath the glass, in vertical tandem fashion to allow them to move independent of one another. This space in the residence is now a focal point of activity and 90% of the sunlight introduced to the residence travels through this space.
Wine Cellar
The client commissioned our services to design a wine cellar on his residence. The space provided for the wine cellar was a curved niche approximately 200 square feet.
The challenge was to accommodate a 600+ wine bottle collection, in a sophisticated ambiance that captured
the majesty of both the collection and the collector. The concept guiding the project is the use of the curved space as the main articulation of a single continuous ribbon of bottles; the bottles will take command of the space. But we did not want the bulk of the immensity of the collection to occupy the available floor space. A floating "ribcage" structure was designed to support the ribbon of wine bottles. Three metal ribs hung from the ceiling, stabilized horizontally by the wine racks. The floor space would be left free for the beholder to enter the collection and be wrapped inside of it.
Apartment in Vistamar Marina
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