Playing with geometry

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The little tweaks in form, arrangement of openings and the play of colors and textures make a building distinct from its “peers.” This is where architectural character, which usually mirrors the client and architect’s personalities, is reinforced.

One takes a look at this two-storey house in a subdivision in Mactan one cannot help but be dazzled even in its simplicity.

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Without too much turns in its plan, architects Antonio Decatoria Jr. and Colleen Zuraya “Raya” Espinosa made up for the boxy image with a little play of geometry on the building skin. The choice of shapes, those formed by clean straight lines, was done to make sure that it does not go visually overboard. The sun-shading canopies, vital elements in tropical architecture, also contribute to the interesting and dynamic design.

Conspicuously invisible to the eyes are the G.I. roof sheets and gutter, which are graciously concealed by parapets. “One thing that is common in our designs is the hidden roofing elements because for me, it contributes to a chaotic view,” shares Raya.

Inside, the spaces are enclosed by predominantly white walls. The motley-colored furniture, which the architects helped choose with the client, provide vibrant tinges like an artist’s oil paint kissing the empty and white canvas.

The client was very hands-on in the design development of the project. Even her daughter enjoyed thinking of ways how to jazz up her room. She even considered taking up an architecture course this school year, the young lady architect says.

“When we meet with clients for proposed projects, an architect could always tell whether the project will be a fruitful one or not. It all depends on the degree of comfort and sincerity present in the professional relationship. With the way we worked with our client, I could say that this project was meant to be under our watch,” she adds.

This project was actually born on a day when the whole country celebrated National Architecture Week two Decembers ago. The client was strolling through the architects’ exhibits in a mall that time when a perspective of a residence caught her eyes. She immediately asked around who did the design of the house, which was completed in Banawa. Fortunately, the architects were on their “shift” manning the booths. The rest, as they say, is history.

The play of straight-line-based geometric forms in this residence depicts the architects’ artistic facet and their design trademark. Moreover, it speaks of their fun and healthy collaboration with their client, who poured in her personal vision with due respect to her architects’ capabilities of implementing the most appropriate design and realizing her (and her family’s) dreams.