El Carmen

In El Carmen de Viboral, a town in Antioquia known for its ceramics, the project adds two storeys to a brick family house in a recent neighbourhood. The clients, a young Colombian couple living in London, wish to return home. The existing house measures 57 m²; with two additional levels, it will reach 170 m².

The programme is spread over three levels. On the ground floor, the living room, kitchen, garage and a central patio. On the first floor, a bedroom and a studio, as the client is a painter. On the top floor, the main bedroom opens onto a terrace.

The central patio organises the house. Together with carefully placed openings, it provides natural ventilation, passive cooling and daylight down into the added levels.

The extension must comply with Colombia's seismic building code (NSR-10), a decisive requirement in this Andean region. Materials are local: brick, in continuity with the existing house, and ceramics, the town's craft, in the kitchen and wet rooms.

The spaces are designed to evolve. The bedrooms could later host a rental, intergenerational living or a workshop, as the family's needs change.

The project is at the design stage.