Project material
- Category
- Clustered Houses
- Typology
- Single-family Houses
- Year
- 2021 - 2024
- Area
- 14.463 m²
- Program
- 82 homes
- Location
- Cajicá, Cundinamarca
82 houses of two types, in Cajicá
Trazo groups 82 brick houses in Cajicá into two types: Equinoccio, a row house with a loft level, and Solsticio, a two-story semi-detached house. We designed the community for Mojica Constructora and 57Uno DC on the clustered-housing lot of the Tucurinca plan: 32,740 m² (352,400 sq ft) of suburban land in the cool highland climate of the Sabana de Bogotá, the plateau north of the city, with the hills in view.
Zoning allows 20% lot coverage and a floor area ratio of 0.40 over the net developable area. The project reaches 0.17 and 0.35, with 14,463 m² (155,700 sq ft) built in two phases of 48 and 34 houses. We placed the 26 Equinoccio houses in four rows at the center and the 56 Solsticio houses in pairs around them. The remaining land holds private gardens, paver streets, pedestrian paths and shared amenities.
Each type answers a position in the layout. Solsticio, at 176.8 m² (1,903 sq ft), has an L-shaped plan: vertical windows face the street and floor-to-ceiling glazing faces the garden on both levels. Equinoccio, at 147.7 m² (1,590 sq ft), takes a narrow frontage and adds a loft above the second floor. In both, the living room, dining room and kitchen share the ground floor and open to the garden. The facades are light exposed brick with dark window frames.
The gallery walks through the result: the gatehouse entrance, the paver streets, the pedestrian path between the rows, the rear gardens, and interiors with wood floors, an open kitchen with an island and a skylight over the bathroom. The Club House with a pool, 535 m² (5,760 sq ft) on two floors, and the clay court gather the shared amenities. The diagrams illustrate the sun path over the community and, floor by floor, daylight and cross ventilation in each house.
From the sun path to the layout
The first sketch organized the lot with a central street and cross streets, and assigned a house type to each position: Equinoccio in rows at the center and Solsticio in pairs toward the edges, each with its own garden. The studio's diagrams draw that layout under the sun path at the solstices and the equinox, and take each house apart floor by floor to show where daylight enters and how air moves across. They are illustrative diagrams of the design criterion, with no calculated values.
The site. 32,741 m² north-northeast of the Tucurinca public park, in Cajicá. It is lot 3 of the 2020 planning permit. The roads. An 8 m central road runs through the site from the gatehouse. Cross streets branch off it and front all 41 plots. 82 houses. 82 semi-detached houses on 41 plots, built in two phases of 48 and 34. They cover 0.17 of the net area; the code allows 0.20. Two types. 56 Solsticio houses with two floors and 176.8 m², and 26 Equinoccio houses with two floors and a loft, 147.7 m², on 8 m wide plots. Airflow. Cross ventilation on every floor: air enters through one façade and leaves through the opposite one. A design flow diagram, not a CFD. Green space. 9,282 m² of green and shared areas inside the scheme, with the club house by the common green and the public park next door.
- 01 / 06
Axonometric view of the community: Equinoccio houses in rows at the center, Solsticio houses in pairs around them, and the Club House with the court next to the curve of the internal road.
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Sun path over the community at the equinox and at the June and December solstices, with Equinoccio houses in ochre and Solsticio houses in terracotta. Conceptual diagram.
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Solsticio house toward the street: two semi-detached, two-story houses with the entrance under a canopy, vertical windows and skylights on the flat roof.
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Solsticio house toward the garden: the L-shaped plan opens floor-to-ceiling glazing on both levels and keeps the side walls closed toward the neighboring houses.
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Daylight floor by floor in both houses, from less to more light: the living areas next to the glazing show the highest availability. Illustrative diagram, not simulated.
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Natural ventilation floor by floor: air enters through one facade, crosses the living areas and bedrooms, and leaves through the opposite facade. Illustrative diagram, not simulated.
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