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November 27, 2024

Equipo de Arquitectura Practices Material Sincerity

The Paraguay-based firm integrates material rigor and contextual design into its cultural and residential projects. 

By: Peter Lukas

In Asunción, Paraguay, Equipo de Arquitectura—founded by Viviana Pozzoli and Horacio Cherniavsky in 2017—operates from Caja de Tierra (Earth Box), an office of their own design. It’s surrounded by verdure that complements its rammed earth exterior, which seemingly bends the natural light to its will, as an example of a design rooted in its humid subtropical climate. The modest-size space embodies the same design principles and loamy tones featured in the studio’s projects throughout the capital city.

Their other projects like the ASA STEAM school, the UHP Synagogue, and the Hello Wood pavilion do not blur the line between outdoor and indoor and sky and ground; rather, they “marry” them. In practice, the native landscape and greenery are not perceived to accent these buildings and structures; instead they work in concert to produce a sustainable and inviting space. The result is natural and utilitarian. Pozzoli and Cherniavsky credit their practice of “material sincerity,” which they describe as “using materials according to their structural logic and expressive qualities.”

Courtesy JASON SCHMIDT.
This residential project is centered on two courtyards and an existing mango tree, providing maximum versatility with its wooden folding doors. Courtesy FEDERICO CAIROLI.

This approach—consistent with their commitment to connect materiality and place—manifests in The Intermediate House. With a built surface of 1,238 square feet, the house boasts chestnut-tinged walls made of manually pressed unbaked earth brick, and locally sourced curupay wood floors and hanging curtains. Paraíso wood panel closet doors—also sourced locally and specifically crafted for this project to fold and slide—reveal bookshelves and a concealed kitchen within, and when closed, attention is brought to the vaulted ceiling supported with horizontal black steel I beams. “We prioritize natural materials and expose them to show a sincere and transparent construction process,” say Pozzoli and Cherniavsky. “Falling into absolutism or being too radical would mean rigidly adhering to a set principle without considering context or flexibility, which we try to avoid.” 

For example, when using stone (or rammed earth) as load-bearing walls tied to the ground, the studio says it does so because “its telluric and stereotomic qualities, which carry the presence of time and weight, suggest that specific use.”

The beauty of their design is a product of its primary goal, which is to create a practical and intuitive building. “Architecture is not solely an aesthetic practice; it must address these fundamental concerns,” say Pozzoli and Cherniavsky. The defining feature of The Intermediate House is the vaulted roofs made of compressed earth block, for which the studio says it economized by pouring a thin four-centimeter layer on top, and used a two-inch insulation foam as a cooling agent to protect the interior from solar radiation to regulate the interior in warmer months.

The freedom of exploration that Cherniavsky and Pozzoli describe is a material response to conditions (climate, accessible technology, local materials, local craftsmanship and general building knowledge, culture, etc.). “Abstraction from these conditions will determine the outcome of the project,” they say, and this manifests in projects that are accessible not only in the way that they are built but also in the way we understand them. 

  • This elementary and high school in Asunción incorporates passive ventilation and sun protection through its central courtyards and solar fins. COURTESY LEONARDO MÉNDEZ.

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