Project Name: House Requena

Location: Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Design Team: Sommet

Total Floor Area: 646 m²

Completion: 2025

Photography: Paul Renaud

Design Features:

Project House Requena, designed by Sommet, stands as a masterful expression of how thoughtful architecture can harmonize with challenging topography while creating distinct spatial experiences, nestled within a gated community on steep, vegetation-rich hillside on the outskirts of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. This 646-square-meter residence exemplifies the perfect balance between inverted programmatic arrangement and sophisticated material expression, redefining spatial possibilities for hillside residential architecture.

The project's most compelling design achievement lies in its intelligent inverted programmatic arrangement strategy. Rather than following conventional wisdom, the design positions social areas on the uppermost level, elevated atop the first-floor volume to capture sweeping views of the treetop canopy. This elevated positioning transforms the roof of the lower volume into an accessible terrace, creating an elevated courtyard that extends the living spaces outward and reinforces the home's dialogue with its natural surroundings. The result is a dwelling that feels simultaneously grounded and airborne, where the most permanent spaces guarantee the best views and establish a privileged relationship with the landscape.

The architectural narrative unfolds through sophisticated material contrast, demonstrating remarkable constructional clarity. The lower volume housing private quarters emerges from the earth through two curved exposed concrete walls, whose function is to contain the terrain and adjust the level of the vehicular entrance to the street level. These ribbed concrete surfaces define the lower volume and the subsoil, establishing a robust, earthbound character. In striking contrast, the upper social volume is clad in sleek metal panels, creating a lighter, more ephemeral presence that appears to float above the landscape.

The choice of materials demonstrates innovative construction pragmatism and visual manipulation refinement. The metal cladding here acquires a value beyond its material dimension. The roof slab of the upper floor is deliberately thinned at the ends in order to stylize the structure. To achieve this, the metal cladding is limited to covering this thinner sector, generating a visual effect in which the edge of the slab appears detached from the rest of the ribbed concrete structure, thus reinforcing the compositional clarity of the whole. This manipulation creates the illusion that enhances the compositional legibility and reinforces the volumetric independence of each level.

The façade treatment demonstrates the refinement of strategic spatial organization. The private area, arranged in the lower volume, is oriented towards the lower trees located on the site's façade. The privacy of these spaces remains intact thanks to the topography, which elevates this volume above the subsoil. From the vehicular access, it is perceived as a second floor, gaining independence from the street through the difference in level and plant density. The implementation of the house responds to the conditions of the terrain, characterized by a steep slope and abundant vegetation, aspects that determine both its spatial organization and its material expression.

The project's defining feature is its creative transformation of site constraints and high-quality building practices. Through positioning the garage and subsoil access at the base of the complex, the curved concrete walls elegantly resolve topographic challenges. The overall arrangement guarantees the best views for the most permanent spaces, framing the treetops and establishing a privileged relationship with the landscape. The upper roof terrace reinforces the continuity between the house and its natural surroundings, creating an elevated outdoor space that expands the realm of daily life. House Requena proves that thoughtful design can transform site constraints into architectural opportunities, creating responsive residential architecture to topography and climate without sacrificing spatial quality, constructional clarity, or residential comfort.

Design Team Sommet, established and led by Sebastián Fernández de Córdova, Erika Peinado Vaca Diez, and Mariano Donoso Rea in 2008, has distinguished itself as a leading architectural practice renowned for simplicity, sobriety, and architectural honesty. Based in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the firm has evolved into a comprehensive design firm with a team of 20 dedicated professionals, successfully delivering over 60 projects spanning residential to institutional typologies.

Under the creative direction of Fernández de Córdova, Peinado Vaca Diez, and Donoso Rea, the firm leads a dynamic multidisciplinary team including architects Sebastián Fernández de Córdova, Erika Peinado Vaca Diez, Mariano Donoso Rea, María Inés El-Hage Guaristi, and Sandra Molteni Moreno serving as lead architects for House Requena. Fernández de Córdova, as founding partner and project manager, received the Max Franz Garré Award from the Colegio de Arquitectos de Bolivia in 2022 in recognition of his professional trajectory. Their collaborative approach balances the personalized attention of a boutique office with the efficiency of a large-scale operation.

The firm's design philosophy centers on creating rationally distributed, fluid spaces, eschewing unnecessary embellishments. Their design methodology prioritizes structural clarity, where form emerges as a legible expression of the underlying framework. Interior and exterior environments merge seamlessly, while materiality serves to enhance spatial comfort. Meticulous attention to detail becomes the defining characteristic of each project. Sommet's professional rigor deliberately distances their work from transient architectural trends and superficial aesthetics, instead pursuing timeless designs grounded in the fundamental belief that our built environment directly shapes human experience.

Sommet, as a full-service architectural practice, demonstrates proficiency across diverse typologies, offering planning, design, project management, and construction oversight services. What began as a studio developing proprietary projects has evolved into a comprehensive design firm. The portfolio reflects an unwavering commitment to architectural restraint, consistently delivering projects that balance innovation with pragmatism, spatial quality with residential comfort. This approach has garnered significant recognition, including first place awards at the IX International Biennial of Santa Cruz in 2024 for Casa Mirador in constructed work category and Casa VB in project category, mentions for Casa GP and Edificio Eco Sostenible Quartier Italia, selection for the Oscar Niemeyer Awards representing Bolivia in 2024 and 2022, and features among ArchDaily's top 50 Latin American houses of 2024. Under the continued leadership of founding partners, Sommet maintains its foundational principles of simplicity, permanence, and meaningful architecture while advancing Bolivian architecture on the international stage.