Fernando Martínez Sanabria: Key design operations towards the spatiality of the ‘room’ archetype

Abstract

This article discusses the process of formal transformation in a series of houses in the eastern hillside of Bogotá, between 1957 and 1963, based upon a system of bays of walls. This was a process promoted by the need to find a common, interior and integrating space in these houses due to the site transition from the savannah to the hillside. The above is accomplished by performing an analysis focused on the social areas of the houses and their relation with the immediate environment, the topography and the landscape. Furthermore, historical and formal notions that precede or are derived from the key design operations identified are examined. The recurrence of key design operations in these houses does not imply a systematic process but progressive and significant findings by Martínez in relation to the role of the wall and elements involved in this specific spatiality. The transformations start from the strict order established by the system of bays of walls, transcending this system of origin towards a particular version of ‘room’: an archetype that maintains a characteristic high level of enclosure with an adaptation to its unity and continuity in order to contribute the particular character of the spaces that are integrated to this new spatiality.

Keywords: Fernando Martínez Sanabria, Bogota, Colombia, houses, modern architecture, room.