La Planicie House II is located in La Molina District, Lima, Peru, and was designed by Oscar Gonzalez Moix.
The home, made mostly of concrete and caramel-colored wood, is spacious, and makes use of a minimalist approach to enhance that feature.
La Planicie House II by Oscar Gonzalez Moix:
“The concept of this house was born by very clear requests from customers. The principal were trying to keep and cherish as much green space and use low maintenance materials. It was a very rewarding process that turned into a special feeling called Space and Matter.
The project should contain space for personal desires, atmospheres and sensations they perceived and were incorporated intimately. They did not know how to explain it very well, hence, the communication process was critical to understand that we should treat the open spaces as possible, seduce and provoke a sense of enjoyment for users, where in the open floor, could live with all functions with large garden. The advantage of the climate in Lima, with even temperatures, no rain allowed us to revive the idea of the central courtyard as an articulator of functions; this helped to further the concept.
This transparency was achieved with two volumes forming with exposed concrete that rest on two large walls of stone. On one side of the field lies a longitudinal volume that contains the double-height main entrance, kitchen, living room and main circulation. This object acts as a backbone and connect the programs. Three faces define the courtyard; one of her is the backbone, the other two are projecting higher specific volumes. Between the two volumes, the yard articulates the winter living room and summer dining (barbecue / grill).
In this way, we provoke a sequence of spaces as stripes that are parallel to the entry edge. From the street, a first strip contains the entry garden and garage, then a strip roof encloses the entry, living and dining; Fringe follows articulator and kitchen courtyard, then the social fringe where the grill area and being summer, living room and dining room, and finally, the fringe of large back yard where the pool, sauna and pool.
Upstairs, in the longitudinal axis and the cuisine, located the family playroom acts as balancer shaft and bellows of the house. The first volume parallel to the street contains the double height and bedrooms of the children and the size of the fund contains the master bedroom and visits.
To realize the project we should be clear from the beginning what would be our tile materials, textures, colors and construction sequence, Matter. The concrete is a material that has no limits. This texture created with a wood formwork different sizes and thicknesses allowed us to create the feeling, the atmosphere sought, where light and shadow are reflected in a special way. Reflection temperature in the environment feels is palpable with every way. These accompany this transition inside – outside, which generates that degree of intimacy we wanted with the scale and proportion.
Finally, true to incorporate materials like stone tiles,Corten steel, wood, granite, marble, glass, water and vegetation in the landscape. This completes a language that speaks to the general concept and the environment. Noble and timeless materials generate mutual enrichment (matter and space) and despite the time they mature, they remain and belonging.”
Photos by: Juan Solano & courtesy of Oscar Gonzalez Moix
