Dos Casas
Originally, these two-story adjacent houses were owned by two sisters who lived contiguously in the corner between A avenue and 4th street. The only preserved part of the original structure are the facades, built of calicanto, and the dividing wall between both houses. The program required rental retail units on the ground floor and a single-family residence for sale in the upper floor.
The main idea behind the project was to group the living spaces together and move them toward the facade overlooking the main avenue to gain natural light and views of the high street from the small balconies.
The entry to the apartment is made through the original zaguan, whose purpose is maintained and spatially enhanced by a double height ceiling and by a combination of materials - brick, black steel, calicanto walls and plants. The zaguan (hall) was an essential element in the Spanish domestic architecture for organizing space and it controlled the access from the street to the courtyard, the staircase and the rooms. The service areas were located toward the back to benefit from natural light and ventilation coming from the courtyards.
