LAB—OR is a design practice that works as an ongoing record of the teaching and scholarly work of Jessica Garcia Fritz and Federico Garcia Lammers. Jessica and Federico are faculty in the School of Architecture (SoA) at the University of Minnesota. They are active members of The Architecture Lobby, and they align with other action-based programs. Details about their work are shared in news and events. Say hello, contact us.
Casa Altillo
Playa Verde, Uruguay
La tortuga gigante no vive en esta casa. "Había una vez un hombre que vivía en Buenos Aires, y estaba muy contento porque era un hombre sano y trabajador. Pero un día se enfermó y los médicos le dijeron que solamente yéndose al campo podría curarse. El no quería ir, porque tenía hermanos chicos a quienes daba de comer; y se enfermaba cada día más. Hasta que un amigo suyo, que era director del Zoológico, le dijo un día: -Usted es amigo mío y es un hombre bueno y trabajador. Por eso quiero que se vaya a vivir al monte, a hacer mucho ejercicio al aire libre para curarse. Y usted tiene mucha puntería con la escopeta, cace bichos del monte para traerme los cueros, y yo le daré plata adelantada para que sus hermanitos puedan comer bien. El hombre enfermo aceptó, y se fue a vivir al monte, lejos, más lejos que Misiones todavía. Hacía allá mucho calor, y eso le hacía bien. Vivía solo en el bosque y él mismo se cocinaba, Comía pájaros y bichos del monte, que cazaba con la escopeta, y después comía frutas. Dormía bajo los árboles y, cuando hacía mal tiempo, construía en cinco minutos una ramada con hojas de palmera, y allí pasaba sentado y fumando, muy contento en medio del bosque, que bramaba con el viento y la lluvia."
This house is for a big family in a parcel of land in Playa Verde, Uruguay.
This house started with two questions:
1. Where do I sleep?
2. Has anyone been in our house?
The first is an innocent question that unravels assumptions about program and the rigid use of space.
The second question is not asked out loud but it points to insecurity and the threat of robbery.
Both questions are interpreted from spending summers with family in Playa Verde and listening to the story of The Three Bears.
In the first version of Robert Southey’s tale, the intruder is not a young girl named Goldilocks, but instead an old woman.
Casa Altillo will not be occupied by bears.
This house is a place for 2 to 12 people living from 2 to 60 days in the summer months between December and March.
The owners and most of the visitors are family.
This house is constructed of cast in place concrete.
This house has a solid ground level perimeter with only two transparent openings.
Both openings can be sealed with a steel shutters.
This house has no bars.
This house is an Altillo, a collection of lofted spaces on top of other spaces.
This house has two stairs.
The first is a cast in place concrete stair connecting the ground and second level of the house.
The second is a steel spiral stair connecting the ground, second, and top Altillo space of the house.
Each stair is situated at opposite ends of the house inside a clear height vertical space defined by a gable roof, also cast in concrete.
Sleep everywhere, wherever you can for as long as you want. Just remember to ask, where do I sleep?