​Energy Efficient Traditional Architecture

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Antigua Guatemala

I chose this region after doing some digging around, because I fell in love with the history, and design of the buildings in that area. This region also offers the opportunity to improve on the current housing designs, such as tremor proofing, water collecting, and natural A/C, while remaining true to the area's culture.
The idea of this project is to create a traditional structure that reflects the cultural aspects and architecture of the environment it is designed for while remaining energy efficient. This design work contributes to the region's culture, and gives the potential owners a unique experience of what it means to be a part of a region's culture.

Site

The site is located in the valley of panchoy or (Antigua Guatemala), the original capital of Guatemala before the Santa Marta earthquakes of 1773 caused the capital to be moved to what is now Guatemala city. The particular street is called 6A Avienda Norte 27, notable locations relevant to this site are the iglesia del camino located across the street, and the Iglesia de la Merced, which is located 2 blocks away. This Particular region is known for its Large amounts of Mayan culture interwoven in its people from the ruins of Tikal to the 21 maya languages spoken today.  It’s also known for the Spanish colonialism that has influenced the religion of the city and use of the native house style, Barroco Antigueño. This area is a major tourist industry attracting over 1.5 million tourists a year who wish to see the uniqueness of this particular region.

Preliminary work

Research page

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mar_HUaegyxNGwuYdUBys0Z32LFAvzt3ADlVAz3jouE/edit?usp=sharing
After the research portion I began my preliminary work, starting from the look of the facade, later building up to the rooms and garden space as well. I had several designs originally, ranging from rectangles to circles while trying to find out the best way to express my intentions in architectural form. 
 These are some of the original ideas I created each different in little ways but all still have the same fundamentals. Another task was figuring out what innovative technologies and materials could improve upon the energy efficiency of the region's buildings. And how that would affect the interior spacing. The research I did helped me to see different tremor proofing, natural A/C, and water collecting designs, that would improve upon the average Spanish Colonial home design.
After coming up with several exterior ideas I tried putting some of this to scale both on paper and in model form so I could really get a feel for what the house would look like. All of these pieces helped me visualize the division of space in my house and how energy efficient aspects could affect the design.

Final Designs and Model

When it came to the final portion of the project I had to find the most effective way to explain the design through my model, and drawings since the design is difficult to comprehend in sections as seen in the third bottom right drawing. This is what led me to create models and drawings that were very open and at angles that give depth to certain aspects of the design such as the gardens, entrance, and other important areas.
When looking from the Axonometric floor plans or the model's perspective it looks as if the house is almost divided into three different sections, the front living areas, the garden, kitchen, storage area, and then the second garden, and bedrooms area. Since the house is blocked off on every side including the back, the front is the only way inside. That is why these areas are seperated the way they are. The research I conducted gave me the idea to take not only aspects from spanish colonial houses but the surrounding Roman Catholic churches as well. Those aspects include things like putting more important areas to the back of the house, the exterior color, and facade work, even the designs of the gardens and how they work in the house.