Architects Lorena Franco and Jorge Cheng have releasedthe architectural plans for a 972m2 house,located outside the city of Piura, in the coastal region of Piura, north of Peru.
The 24 acres site is currently used as a hatchery for horses, the Peruvian Horse, a breed of light pleasure saddle horse known for its smooth ride.The site is surrounded by non-occupied sites and it is approximately 6km off the main road. The brief asked for a holiday type house with minimum 4 bedrooms, with large social areas, a place to hold horse competitions trophies and a wine cellar.
The proposal looks at creating a showroom type of house distributing the different accommodations around the trophies and wine cellar. It consists of three elevated, clearly defined, volumes, overlooking at the landscape of open fields and desert areas, seating on top of the social and service accommodation, all articulated by a vertical void which holds all the trophies and the wine cellar.
Each volume has a different function and orientation, being one - the closest to the horses’ training and exhibition field - the roof canopy for the main terrace; the other one, the tallest volume, the main bedroom; and the third one, the guests’ rooms. The three volumes cantilever over a grass road which is used by the horses to reach the training and exhibition field.
The project sits on the highest part of the site, between the horses’ stables and the training and exhibition field. It has two floors and a basement. The proposed material and finish for the social volume at ground level is mainly on exposed concrete. The volumes above are all covered in CorTen steel panels with different size perforations. The proposed palette of materials looks at a minimal and uniform look, which despite its simplicity generates constant changing lighting effect.
Piura, due to its geographical location, is both tropical and arid at the same time. The weather, rainy sometimes, is mostly stable and have pleasant summer temperatures in the lows 30s and mid 20s °C.
