compressed earth blocks and a vaulted roof complete this intermediate house in paraguay

a house that intermediates between subtropical weather and natural materials

equipo de arquitectura built ‘intermediate house‘, a fusion between the inside and outside, lights and shadows, natural and artificial, industrial and craftsmanship. compressed earth blocks, a vaulted roof, natural daylight, and a strong connection to nature form the atmosphere of this dwelling which is located inasunción, paraguay. 

the structural support becomes functional, as the entire roof of the house rests on floor-to-ceiling furniture, making up the perimeter of the property. this double function is applicable to space, where the social and the private are intermingled according to use. the functional flexibility of the house is adjusted to the interchangeable condition of the ways of living, where the inhabitants become the architect of these transformations.

all images courtesy of federico cairoli

blurring the boundaries of interior and exterior

the favorite space in a local vernacular home, is usually the intermediate space, a setting for receiving and sharing.

with this in mind, ‘intermediate house’ by equipo de arquitectura (see more here) is conceived as a continuous space that involves the natural with the constructed. uncooked earth — in the form of manually pressed bricks — is piled up on walls, filters, and vaults to generate, that intermediate space, where natural ventilation crosses and the boundaries between interior and exterior are diluted.

in the center of a 190 sqm plot, a mango tree intermediates between the two blocks that are physically separated, but are visually connected, achieving a spatial integration from the filter wall at the front to the border wall at the back. a constructed space of 115 sqm, which is transformed by filters, doors, and shutters, responds to the existezminimum under a local, subtropical perspective.

all of the compressed earth blocks were hand pressed

between industrial and craftsmanship

finding a middle point between industrial and craftsmanship is part of the recognition of the available resources, where the balance between the two, produces a technological amalgam that generates alternatives to conventional construction techniques. cutting the compacted earth block in the middle became the constructive strategy of the reinforced vaults that make up the roof. the channels resulting from the cutting of the blocks function as formwork for the reinforcements that receive a fine load of concrete so that they work together. these design criteria and their corresponding materialization, which range from the manufacture of the raw material to the design of the furniture mechanism, reflect the attempt to find the synthesis between the project and its construction.

the house becomes one intermediate space

‘it’s interesting how ideas exist in an immaterial, ethereal world, but they manifest themselves in the material, with matter. the constructive process intermediates these antagonistic universes, between trial and error, between expectations and reality. to stand on the shoulders of giants is to place oneself in the middle of the advances of the past and the development of the future, an inevitable task if we assume that architecture is the history of continuity.’

the mango tree divides the two blocks

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project info:

 

name: intermediate house
architects: equipo de arquitectura

design team: horacio cherniavsky, viviana pozzoli, gabriela ocampos, franco pinazzo, rolph vuyk

location: asunción, paraguay

photography: federico cairoli

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.