Project material
Two-family Houses
Ábaco is a country condominium located in Cajicá, Cundinamarca, in an area of the city from which it is possible to contemplate and enjoy the conditions of the rural natural landscape.
The project is made up of eighty-eight houses distributed over an urban layout designed from criteria of sun exposure, which rigorously interprets the solar path and therefore takes advantage of the climate to apply passive sustainability measures.
Each house is laid out in an L around its garden: the windows join inside and outside without exposing private life to the neighboring house, and that open facade lets in light and air. The homes are grouped in pairs, and between them the layout leaves brick streets and shared green areas.
Construction is resolved with load-bearing structural masonry and a double-brick envelope —one structural wall inside, one exposed outside— that works as thermal mass: it stores the heat of the day and gives it back at night, when the Sabana cools. The roofs were pitched 10° south and left fitted with the ducts and circuits each owner needs to install photovoltaic panels later on.
More about the project›
The houses of Ábaco are volumes of simple geometry, open to the enjoyment of the landscape and designed to take advantage of the site's climate while keeping water and energy consumption low.
The houses are laid out in an L shape around the garden, integrating interior spaces with the outdoors through large windows without compromising the occupants' privacy; this open-facade strategy lets in natural light and ventilation.
Each house is made up of two simple volumes topped by roofs sloping south — a strategy that eases the later installation of photovoltaic panels in the ideal position to capture as much solar radiation as possible.
The design of the houses relies on an architectural and constructive language in dialogue with its surroundings, using a double brick wall system: an inner wall of structural brick and an outer wall of exposed brick.
The construction system used in the Ábaco houses is a highly economical choice that minimizes the cost of the structure through load-bearing structural masonry walls. Its practicality makes construction fast and easy to carry out with local labor, materials and technology.
The construction system made it possible to build thermal mass into the envelope of the houses: the outer walls store heat during the day and release it at night, ensuring optimal thermal comfort indoors at no extra cost in structure or materials.
The roofs were oriented 10° south and fitted with all the ducts and electrical circuits needed for owners to later install photovoltaic panel systems and capture solar energy to reduce their consumption.
The houses were also delivered equipped for low water and energy consumption: each one has LED lighting, a dishwasher, low-flow toilets and water-saving faucets.
From sun exposure to the layout
The first sketch of Ábaco was not a volume but a trajectory: that of the sun over the Canelón district. The streets and the houses were oriented on that geometry, and the L-shaped type was tested with simulations of natural light, cross ventilation and hour-by-hour thermal behavior before building. What was built uses structural masonry and local brick, a fast and economical system that also made the thermal mass of the envelope possible.
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The exposed brick, laid in offset courses that give the facade relief and shadow.
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Natural light levels floor by floor, measured at 70 cm height under an overcast sky and compared against the recommended minimums for each room.
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The turn that defines the type: against the bar-shaped house, the L-shaped plan embraces the garden and multiplies the faces that open onto it.
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Ground floor of a pair of houses: living room, dining room and kitchen each open onto their own garden, back to back with the neighbor.
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Second floor: the bedrooms repeat the L-shaped turn and look onto the garden, not onto the house next door.
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The roofs pitch 10° south to receive the greatest possible radiation and to be ready for photovoltaic panels.
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Cross-ventilation simulation: air crosses the house from facade to facade, with a minimum of three air changes per hour.
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A cold week hour by hour: while the outside drops below 10 °C, the average inside the house stays within the comfort zone.
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The section through the envelope: an inner wall of structural brick and an outer wall of exposed brick, the pair that stores heat by day and releases it by night.
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The project in motion
- Category
- Clustered Houses
- Typology
- Two-family Houses
- Year
- 2013 - 2016
- Area
- 13.700 m²
- Program
- 88 two-family homes
- Location
- Cajicá, Cundinamarca
- City
- Cajicá, Cundinamarca
- Status
- Portfolio
