CASA EN LOS ANDES
Featured Ecuadorian Works 018–2024
By: María Alicia Becdach, architect.
Lead Architect: María Alicia Becdach
Studio: MAB María Alicia Becdach – Architecture & Urban Design
Construction: José Ponce
Location: Quito, Ecuador
Design Year: 2022
Construction Year: 2023
Site Area: 1,200 m²
Built Area: 540 m²
Architectural Photography: María Alicia Becdach
The traditional house of the Ecuadorian highlands is reinterpreted and reintroduced within a contemporary architectural context. The project is conceived as a courtyard house, recovering the essence of traditional Andean dwellings while contributing to cultural identity.
This results in a house conceived as an envelope around a controlled central patio, which then opens toward a more organic garden and the surrounding landscape. The main façade is experienced from within the plot, from the patio—where the house is truly lived. In contrast, the façade facing the street is austere and restrained in scale, allowing vegetation to cover and camouflage it. This vegetation is composed of Andean species such as grasses, pennisetums, agapanthus, calla lilies, and Coco Combi palms, which frame the entrance.
Access is defined by an incision in the base, leading to an space that behaves more like a window, visually connecting through the volume toward the patio, where an Arupo tree stands at the center of this axis. This creates a spatial sequence that moves from the central courtyard to the ravine and its distant landscape. As one experiences this path, the house gradually reveals itself, reflecting the life it embodies.
The house is composed of three traditional elements:
Base:
The grounding of the house establishes a strong relationship with the terrain and its slope. The volume is anchored using traditional rustic stone, composed of small-format pieces
Small square stone pieces (10 × 10 cm) contribute to the scale and texture of the volume. The base not only grounds the house but also brings it closer to the human scale. It extends into a small plaza with steps that frame the inner façade, functioning as an outdoor gathering space and a transition between exterior and interior. This plaza is defined by two Coco Combi palms, traditional of the Andean highlands and their plazas. Its materiality is characterized by andesite stone in a 10 × 10 format, consistent with the rustic stone of the base.
Body:
A duality in materiality defines this element. The front façade is solid, containing the servant spaces, while the inner façades are light and transparent, housing the served spaces and contributing to the spatial integration of the envelope. Transparency also allows vegetation to enter and permeate the interior of the house. A clear distinction is established between servant spaces—circulation, kitchen, bathrooms, and library—and served spaces such as living rooms, dining areas, and bedrooms.
Crown:
A pitched roof with a simple, traditional geometry conveys a sense of a warm and welcoming home. Handcrafted tiles are used in a small, flat, rectangular format based on golden proportions. Due to the angle of the roofs, these tiles create an optical effect, appearing as small squares when viewed frontally.
