Spatial Fluency, X House, Peru, 2003, Barclay & Crousse

The project arises as a reflection on the climatic conditions of the Peruvian coast, the geographical characteristics of the coast where the house is located and the client’s needs.

Between the Andes Mountains and the ocean there is a long, thin strip of dusty brown desert, almost at sea level.

Although the Peruvian desert is one of the driest in the world, its climate is not extreme. Temperatures range from 14 ° C (minimum in winter) to 29 ° C (maximum in summer), with very little variation between day and night due to a high percentage of humidity.

Despite this, in order to inhabit the desert without denying it or betraying it, it is essential to tame the order of this landscape.

The key is to create the privacy necessary to live, while integrating the home.

The design process begins by imagining an abstract and simple volume whose limits are defined by construction regulations.

Then, we excavate this theoretical solid, removing the matter little by little, just as archaeologists mine sand to discover pre-Columbian ruins in the region.

The result is the fusion of the exterior and interior spaces in a fluid and continuous space within an edge.

This edge divides the absolute and infinite space of the desert from the intimate spaces of the house.

From this well-defined but permeable edge, the landscape and the sky are framed in different ways.

The access patio leads to the intimate space of the house.

This space extends to the ocean through a large terrace. This terrace is conceived as an artificial beach that is related to the ocean by a long and narrow pool.

The ceiling of the living / dining room is conceived as a weightless beach umbrella, anchored to the edge. The boundaries between the living / dining space and the terrace are naturally blurred by frameless sliding glass panels.

An open staircase follows the natural topography and leads to the bedroom level below the terrace. The children’s rooms are accessible through a patio / pergola, covered by the terrace. The parents’ bedroom is located at the end of the staircase, passing under the suspended pool.

The use of ocher / sand color, also used in pre-Columbian and colonial houses, prevents the building from visually aging, since it gathers layers of desert dust and reinforces the feeling of unity of the excavated volume.

The distance between our office in Paris and the project site in Peru, leads to streamlining the construction system, eliminating details that seemed to be non-essential