Casa Harás

Brutalist Poetry in the Colombian Mountains
Studio KP2 and Cinco Sólidos combine with a brutalist ode to tropical modernism that blurs the boundaries between architecture and art in the lush highlands of Medellín.

By Rainbow Nelson

As 17th century English playwright Christopher Marlowe once wrote so eloquently in his Elizabethan tragedy The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, there are faces so pretty they “launched a thousand ships”.

And while Helen of Troy’s allure was such that it inspired the mythological Greek invasion of the walled city and one of the most evocative passages of 17th century literature, there now lies a house in Colombia that could well have launched a thousand more brutalist beauties of its kind.

Casa Haras is a potent collaboration between Colombian interior designer, Karlos Perez and Medellin’s purveyors of geometric perfection, the architecture and design studio, Cinco Sólidos.

Aptly, this ode to tropical modernism in the mountains of Medellin takes its name from those dedicated to breeding the country’s much desired paso fino equine creatures.

A Threshold Between Worlds

There’s an element of Trojan Horse in this beguiling 780 sq m home, with an olive branch (or olive tree) offering a conspicuous clue towards the otherwise concealed entrance to this poetic palace, which is at once fortress-like and ethereal, monumentally brutalist yet intimately welcoming at the same time.

After passing through the discrete fissure that breaches Casa Haras’ seemingly impenetrable black aluminium-clad façade, visitors are greeted by a wondrous world of contrasts blurring the lines between inside and outside, art and architecture.

Situated at the secretive transition between exterior and interior is Richard MacDonald's sculpture — a masculine figure that meets visitors with his arms outstretched, gazing upwards to the heavens and bathing in the light of a dramatic skylight that shifts throughout the day casting ever-changing patterns throughout the day.

Beyond its decorative function, MacDonald’s bronze sculpture and others by Danilo Cuadros, Andres Layos and Julian Voss Andreae contrast with the geometrical purity of the rest of the house.

“It was clear that the goal was for the house itself to be a sculpture,” says Maria Jose Fernández, co-founder of Cinco Sólidos, who were charged with bringing physical form to Perez’ poetic vision, creating a cinematic canvas for Perez’ artistic universe. “We decided to keep the design as clean as possible so that when scaling it to large volumes, the materiality wouldn't work against us,” says Fernández.

A Celestial Stairway

Adding to the sculptural theme, a spiral staircase serves as a pivot for the otherwise angular program. Positioned in the center of the house, the monumental stairway to heaven provides a celestial link between the common areas with the bedrooms upstairs, pinning together Casa Haras’ two rectangular volumes like the hands of a monumental clock.

A larger 35.64 body that sits on a north-south axis overlaps perpendicularly the smaller body (24.93 meters) below to create a composition that reads differently from all angles.

Almost 4 m in diameter, the oak veneer clad stairway took craftsmen 90 days to complete. "It's like the heart of the house," explains Perez, "following the Fibonacci spiral that repeats throughout nature - in shells, in plants, in the universe itself."

The staircase provides a dramatic counterpoint to the home's other defining feature: a V-shaped concrete column that supports the striking overhang of the upstairs body and permits the living and dining area to open out fully to the verdant mountain scenery at ground level.

Plunging into the pool lined with black Bali stone tiles to reflect the play of light as it passes over its surface, the columns Perez explains, represent "victory, dreams, and stability", themes that, he says, resonate throughout the project.

The dark hues of the tiles lining the pool reference the black river (Rio Negro) that backs onto the property and gives its name to the municipality that home to most of Medellin’s most luxurious residences.

Monumental rocks were plucked from local rivers for their energizing properties and native plants selected by Arte Natural Paisajismo create what Perez calls "a vibrant environment that combines the natural with the modern."

The Fifth Elevation

The house’s brutalist concrete interiors contrast with the detailed attention paid to the cladding of the exterior. Even the roof was treated with the same careful consideration as the facades, covered in stone from local rivers that create an unexpected fifth elevation that aligns with the five platonic solids that give the studio its name. According to Fernández, "design is rarely thought from above. That's why we gave the roofs the same importance as the other four facades."

Aluminium shuttering painted to replicate the wood used throughout the house, softens the lighting creating a sundial effect as the sun passes overhead throughout the day. Furniture by Paola Lenti and B&B Italia was chosen by Perez to soften the otherwise brutalist interiors.

It’s in the passage from day to night that Casa Haras reveals its dual nature most clearly, a place for profound reflection, at once a powerful architectural statement and an intimate family home. "The sturdiness gives a sense of security," says Perez, "but it also represents how important and beautiful it is to be located in one's own center."

Exalted by the creative act of shaping his dream home with Cinco Sólidos, Perez has assembled his own team of architects in Miami to launch his own design studio, StudioKP2, with a second brutalist project in the pipeline due to complete later this year.