Return to the Coast

Felipe and Federico Mesa of plan:b rediscover Colombia's other soul in the design of a holiday home on the Caribbean coast.

At a certain stage in his life and after many years spent abroad, Gabriel García Márquez announced to the world his return to Colombia. He blamed it on the "fragrance of guava". Adopting an extremely Proustian ploy, he said he wanted to rediscover the fragrances and colours of his home region, the Colombian Caribbean. Felipe and Federico Mesa of plan:b in Medellín must have experienced something similar when, in 2010, they were asked to build a holiday home at Río Cedro, in the Caribbean province of Córdoba.

Colombia is a nation with two souls, split between the Andean area and the tropical Caribbean coast and between the cachaca culture of those living at more than 1000 metres a.s.l. and the costeña one, more drawn to dancing and having fun. Born in Medellín in 1975 and 1979 respectively, Felipe and Federico are two Andeans who find themselves interpreting a different world—and searching for the fragrance of guava.

This timber structure may, on first sight, look totally hedonist and in complete symbiosis with nature but it contains features linked to an ethical vision of building. The architects worked in an area hit by deforestation and interventions prompted by the presence of numerous stock farms— something that has seriously undermined the mangrove forests that line the coast.

The house built by Plan:b at Río Cedro is a prefabricated structure and was completed in three months (photo Sergio Gomez)

They opened the building onto the landscape and eliminated the whole outer-wall concept. This house has no compact walls or windows, only timber weaves. Atmospheric conditions do, of course, play their part (temperatures are always high) and the rain is concentrated in just one season. The architects exploited the sea breeze to cool the building and the sun's orientation to produce as much shade as possible. The 30-cm thick roof is waterproof.

The building is positioned with the main fronts facing north and south to generate the maximum shade (photo Sergio Gomez).

Despite its very free appearance, the Río Cedro house is based on a precise building approach. It is a prefabricated structure made of timber of certified origin. The architects also respected local tradition by using Palma Amarga branches for the roof and Bactris guineensis ones for the vertical weaves.
Laura Bossi

House in Rio Cedro, Córdoba, Colombia
Architects: Felipe Mesa + Federico Mesa
Design team: Ivanovha Benedetto, Sebastián Serna, Carlos Blanco
Construction supervision: Álvaro Sanín, Felipe Mesa
Client: Álvaro Sanín
Built area: 233 m² (gross)
Cost: 32,429.69 Euros
Design phase: January 2010–April 2010
Construction phase: August 2010–November 2010

In order to make the timber structure more rigid, we built a reinforced concrete base. With this material we also defined some elements and fixtures on the ground floor, such as a sofa, the stairs, and a secondary table

The ground floor has an open space, with concrete seating and table (photo Sergio Gomez).

The most private parts of the home are on the first floor, covered by a large roof (photo Sergio Gomez).

Return to the Coast

Felipe and Federico Mesa of plan:b rediscover Colombia's other soul in the design of a holiday home on the Caribbean coast.

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