Located in a low-density suburban setting, Brew House, designed by Studio Alfa, is situated on a site that, despite its relative containment, enjoys a strong connection with the existing vegetation and a domestic scale that allows for close dialogue with its immediate context. A large-scale tree at the center of the lot serves as the articulating axis of the project, providing a hierarchical sense to the spatial layout and connecting the architecture visually and emotionally with the natural environment.
The brief called for the development of a live-work unit that would allow its inhabitants to live and work in the same place, combining residential spaces with an area dedicated to craft beer production. This hybrid condition posed the challenge of integrating technical and domestic functions without evident hierarchies, fostering a fluid, flexible, and continuous system of spatial relationships.
The central architectural idea was to redefine the coexistence of living and producing by exploring a new house-workshop typology. From the beginning, the proposal sought to merge the industrial character of a workshop with the warmth and livability of a home, using the honesty of materials and an expressive structure as the means of articulation. Transparency between areas, clear organization of spaces, and the integration of poetic elements were key to the design.
Formally, the project is structured around a simple floor plan with regular axes that organize the different realms. This rationality contrasts with the expressive richness of the building envelope and construction details. Materiality takes center stage: Havana marble stone contained in gabions that form permeable walls; dynamically laid brick; polished concrete in social and industrial zones; wood in private areas; and steel in multiple expressions—ranging from a reticulated structure to a spiral staircase. The latter, conceived as a sculptural element, becomes the heart of the project; beyond its function, it is a poetic gesture that breaks the general orthogonality and dynamizes the interior experience.
The pitched roof acts as a unifying and functional piece: it provides scale, finishes the central volume, and allows for passive natural ventilation. Meanwhile, the facade precisely articulates solids and voids, generating a vibrant plane that is sensitive to the surroundings and coherent with the constructive logic of the whole.
The project clearly resolves a mixed functional program, balancing the requirements of habitability and production with poise. It proposes a synthesis between the technical and the sensitive, between the productive and the domestic, blurring the traditional boundaries between living and working.
2022
2023
Project Name: Brew House
Location: Quito, Ecuador
Design Year: 2022
Completion Year: 2023
Site Area: 500 m²
Built Area: 240 m²
Firm Name: Studio Alfa
Lead Architect: Patricio Caamaño
Collaborators: Juan Pablo Jiménez, Angelo David Romero
Photography Credits: Bicubik
Other Credits: Furniture by KARE Ecuador
Bicubik Photography
