Santa Julia House by Emilio Marin Studio
Emilio Marín studied at the University of Chile, opening his studio, Emilio Marin Studio, in 2005. Two years later Juan Carlos López joined the project. One thing I like about them both is their conviction when defending their work philosophy; they enjoy the day to day, doing what they want to, when and with whom they want to, and taking as long as they want to do it.
Santa Julia House, presented here in this imagery above and below, is a one room property built in 2011, located in Chile’s central valley, to the south of Santiago. The family that owns the house has a very active social life, so that the spaces in which these activities take place are large, such as the living room, the dining room, the attic, and the outside terrace. All of these spaces are visually and spatially connected, as if they were one large social expanse. The sliding doors and windows can be opened to connect the interior space with the exterior.
The house has a steel skeleton and a wooden skin. The wood is the buildings interface with the people who live inside it; it’s what they can touch and see, as it is what covers the walls and the ceiling. The floor is made of exposed concrete. Working with these low cost materials, which are also virtually unprocessed raw materials, has allowed them to create much wider and higher spaces than they had originally planned.
Among the selected images below you can see the model of the house in solid wood. A characteristic of the studio is that it doesn’t make the traditional referential maquettes. They do not represent existing projects on a different scale, but are projects in themselves. This sculptural dimension of the model is related to the appreciation of naked architecture, rooted in frugality.