Goodbye to the boundaries between indoor and outdoor in El Quincho's project.

Study of the existing structure

The client's housing need was the expansion of their family villa to share moments together and add areas reserved for guests. The main desire was to incorporate a large dining room completely open to the garden, with the possibility of separating it if necessary.
El Quincho, designed and transformed by the architecture projects studio CaSA was born after the study of the original structure: it was clear that the area of the new building had to be between the existing pool and the old building, leaning against the latter. The new space would also have to accommodate a guest bedroom and a bathroom.

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The new pavilion adjacent to the old one

Formally, this new pavilion had to establish a connection with the white-painted brick walls that characterized the existing house.
The design choice was to recall the white brick volumes of the original house with exposed brick masonry. A thin white roof covers the building, obscuring the transition between indoor and outdoor space and providing shelter from heavy summer rains. This, in relation to the thickness of the exposed brick walls of the underlying structure, establishes a somewhat similar relationship to the dark gray roof of the existing building but without imitating it.

The dehors key element of the project

An element that characterized the design of the gallery was also the presence of trees on the ground, it was decided to enhance them and make them part of the project, a Cassia Fistula tree has indeed been incorporated into the roof through a large hole that will allow it to grow and bloom freely. Another central architectural element in the gallery is the concrete corner seat, cantilevered on the brick wall in the facade, designed to contemplate the garden.

Indoor-outdoor relationship and patio

Inside, a large patio divides the dining area from a sleeping area with a spacious bedroom and an intimate bathroom overlooking the patio. The volume of the bedroom extends towards the garden to add intimacy to this more private part and to have an even closer relationship with the outdoor greenery. One of the key pieces of the project is the Asador, the brick oven where the asado is prepared. Often these objects are placed outdoors, but the family's final choice was to have it indoors, so they could all be together even while cooking.

Recovery of original design pieces

The building has been furnished with new furniture but above all with many pieces that were already in the family. Four original Diamond chairs by Harry Bertoia have been restored, in the house since the 1960s. An old large solid wood table occupies the center of the dining room surrounded by Windsor chairs that have been in the family for decades as well as the Persian rugs used both indoors and outdoors.