Architect：dos G arquitectos

Location：Panama, Republic of Panama; | ;

Project Year：2018

Category：Private Houses

The project lot, is located close to the Panama Canal, within an area defined by the norm as "garden city" and next to a protected area of tropical rainforest. The four townhouses, object of the design intervention, are a contemporary reinterpretation of the typology of existing houses in the area, a former military base of the United States. The houses are developed in four levels. On the ground floor, the parking lots and a service area, on the first level, the living room and the kitchen that, through a retractable sliding system, opens onto the rear garden eliminating the division between interior and exterior. On the second level the night area, composed of three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The composition is completed by a living rooftop, which is accessed by a sliding skylight, equipped with a six-person hot tub, barbecue area and solarium, as well as enough space for an outdoor room. At a compositional level, the main idea of design has been to break the conventional scheme of townhouses composed of "solid blocks" arranged vertically and replace it with an atypical scheme, where the "solid block" is arranged horizontally, almost suspended in the second level (the night area) since the first level is completely made of glass and the ground floor is open. To this solid, pure volume, openings have been made, highlighted by the use of cantilevered frames made with a voluntarily dark color, in contrast to the white façade. In the design stage, particular attention has been paid to energy efficiency.

The genius loci has inspired us to design these houses based on the basic principles of bioclimatic architecture. Elements that could appear to be compositional, such as the cantilevered volumes, the projecting frames of the windows and the louvers, have been thought to have a function that is not only aesthetic but rather thermal.

These elements, combined with others such as natural ventilation, the collection of rainwater and its use for the irrigation and flushing system of the toilets, the choice of aluminum windows with thermal cut section and double glass with gas chamber argon, high efficiency air conditioning systems (VFR), guarantee maximum comfort and contribute to reduce the energy requirement and make this set of buildings a project that respects the environment and its context. In the same respect for the environment, a bolted steel structure has been designed instead of the conventional system of fixation with electrostatic welding, thus allowing, in the future and in case of demolition of the buildings, their total reuse.

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