Lamarilla Reforestation House/
Quena Margarita González Escobar
Juan David Hoyos Taborda
Project Details
Location(City/Country):
Fredonia, Antioquía / Colombia
Tipology:
Residential
Year (Design/Construction):
2023 / 2023
Area (Net/Gross):
67.50 m2 / -
Operational Carbon emissions (B6) kgCO2e/m2/y:
-
Embodied Carbon emissions (A1-A3) kgCO2e/m2:
-- Integration with the natural landscape: The house is designed to blend seamlessly with the existing topography and forest, preserving the natural terrain and minimising disruptions to the local ecosystem.
- Use of natural and low-impact materials: Construction relies primarily on FSC-certified timber and other natural materials, ensuring a minimal environmental footprint while maintaining structural integrity.
- Support for reforestation and ecosystem restoration: The project actively facilitates on-site reforestation, protects native flora, and provides suitable habitats for local wildlife, contributing to ecosystem recovery and biodiversity.
- Compact and energy-conscious design: A flexible and compact layout reduces material consumption and energy use, while providing functional and comfortable living spaces for inhabitants.
Description provided by the project team.
The stone fell millions of years ago, having come from the centre of the earth and piercing Cerro Bravo with the force of life.
Many years later, colonisation arrived, cutting down the forest and shaping a landscape made productive for human use. Coffee cultivation and mining began to occupy the territory, and the ecosystems were exhausted.
Years passed and we began to long to return to nature, to the land. One February day, the nogal cafetero that stood beside the stone blossomed, and we became custodians of that sky.
Lamarilla then began to take shape as a gentle line beside the stone, raised from the ground with timber and clay. It spends its days gazing towards the hill.
The house opens to welcome us during the planting seasons and closes to give us rest and shelter at night, with the frogs singing in the wetland.
In April the birds eat the guavas; one day they will have a variety of fruits and trees for nesting.
Bees and insects will arrive with the wind to the flowers and grasses in the clearings of the forest where the bear lives.
Lamarilla Reforestation House is the strategy that allows us to inhabit the site to carry out the work of reforestation, maintenance and conservation of the ecosystem.
This architecture can be placed on any site where reforestation is intended… allowing the inhabitant to live within that place and become part of it, a sustainable model that supports the restoration and conservation of natural systems.
The architectural design proposes a basic, compact, and flexible domestic layout that seeks to reduce its impact on the land and minimise the use of raw materials in its construction. On the ground floor, the house has a multifunctional living space for sitting, eating and sleeping, a kitchen that opens onto the deck, and a bathroom that opens toward a private landscape.
In the loft, there is a bedroom for sleeping. The outdoor deck can be enjoyed during the day and is also used for nursery work.
Architecture is a key tool for raising awareness of environmentally sustainable practices, offering responses to the current climate crisis. For this reason, the project proposes a simple development using renewable materials with a low environmental impact that integrates harmoniously with the landscape and recognises the natural ground as the first layer from which a site-specific architecture can emerge, one capable of generating new natural, social, and cultural landscapes.
- CLIENT: Cecilia Escobar Trujillo
- STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Wilmar Alberto Vélez
- CONTRACTOR: Denso Arquitectura
- CONSTRUCTION: FSC Timber
- PHOTOGRAPHY: Alejandro Arango
AWARDS: Winner of the XXII LÁPIZ DE ACERO Award 2024 in the Architectural Design Category.
Finalist ADUS LATAM 2023/2024 Built Work.
Finalist BIAU, CLIMAS XIII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism.
