2016 MCHAP.emerge
Bridge Pavilion
Alarcia-Ferrer Arquitectos
Los Molinos, Calamuchita, Argentina
October 2014
PRIMARY AUTHOR
Joaquin Alarcia Federico Ferrer Deheza
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Pablo Parino (Civil Engineer)
CLIENT
Fiduciaria TurÃstica S.A
PHOTOGRAPHER
Emilia Sierra Guzman Nicolas Matheus
OBJECTIVE
The project is proposed as a passable building in response to this channel shape space. It was important to understand and interpret the nature of this landscape in order to achieve serenity and silence with our intervention. The proposal consists in a minimum scale infrastructure materialized on a bridge pavilion which establishes a close relation with this suggestive landscape intensifying the experience of it. This suspended space islocated transversely to the channel and support on both sides by two concrete walls that define the access and give scale to the intervention. In order to harmonize with its muddy setting, concrete walls are pigmented and textured. Transparency and sensations of weightlessness and buoyancy are central themes in this project. The rectilinear building has two glass facades which allow simultaneous views of the forest and water. Depending on the time, the glass facade causes the spread of environment through its reflection and its disappearance by total transparency. The weight of the building is supported by metal Vierendeel trusses which span the shallow channel and allows optimizing its structural performance. The long open-plan building provides a dining area, lounger, kitchen and bathroom. Finally floor and ceiling are materialized in wood which impresses warmth atmosphere into space.
CONTEXT
The project, situated on Los Molinos lake shore, aims to provide a meeting place in a holiday residential development. The building, of minimum dimensions, must cover the basic needs for these activities including kitchen, dining, lounge and bathroom. The site, key of the intervention, is a suggestive landscape where a shallow ravine runs through an eucalyptus forest providing an unique atmosphere. This channel space was caused by the erosion of an old disused road which originally ran through the lake shore. The architecture should be an opportunity to enhance the experience of this evocative environment. Finally, restriction on time and budget was essential for choosing a particular constructive technology.
PERFORMANCE
The naturalness and simplicity with which the building takes over the site has had a positive and respectful impact on the environment. It has become a recognizable space and immediately been appropriated by users as a place for meetings and several celebrations. When an activity takes place at night, the building becomes a warm lamp in the wooded landscape. The condition of a passable building not only respects the memory of the old road but also allows clear access to the shore. Also, the decision of a suspended building makes it never have contact with the lake crescent. Over time favorably impact the appearance of the building and the aging of pigmented concrete walls gradually cohesive with the muddy setting.