Casa Xecua by Yemail Arquitectura
Casa Xecua in Guasca, Colombia, was designed in 2022 by Yemail Arquitectura. The wooden cabin features an orthogonal volume oriented toward distant views, with living spaces extending over an outdoor deck. Constructed with tecumani pine and annealed clay roof tiles, the cabin reflects a primitive aesthetic and houses bedrooms that end in boxes for privacy.

Wooden Cabin Overlooks Colombia’s Cota Valley
Yemail Arquitectura founder Lucas Yemail drew from the first structure built by his studio, which was made from selvages discarded by sawyers after cutting down a pine forest.
“Casa Xecua is the heir of a reflexive trajectory that began in 2007 with the founding project of the Yemail Arquitectura office,” Yemail said.

Casa Xecua’s Construction Was Challenging
Casa Xecua is made up of an open-plan kitchen, dining and living space, as well as a master and secondary bedroom contained within separate volumes.
“The spaces are concentrated in a molded bar with actions that define the interior comfort and the relationship with the immediate ground,” the studio said.

In order to provide wind protection, the home is situated perpendicular to a forested area.
“The undulation of the terrain dictates that the utmost care is taken to build on stilts,” the studio said.
The single sloping volume was topped with a poly-angle roof intended to give a nod to more traditional homes.

Slatted, wooden closet volumes were also integrated on either side of the structure in the bedrooms.
This serves to provide a layer of privacy for cabin residents while also protecting more sensitive housing items.
A linear path was also carved out of the structure, allowing residents to transition through a semi-open corridor and courtyard that leads straight into the master bedroom.
Materials used throughout the interior included a contrast of exposed decorative wooden ceiling beams and white painted walls.

At the west end of the kitchen, a large, wooden deck extends outward as the topography continues steadily downward.
The structure’s gabled end results in a cathedral-like ceiling in the living area, where the firm used an exposed brick cylinder to highlight the entry to the cabin.
“The gabled volume with eaves at the ends is redefined by the anomaly of a double-height cylinder in exposed brick that gravitates with another weight and gives root to the lightness of the wooden box,” the studio said.

Timber elements were sheathed in a circular window filled with an acrylic sheet, allowing light to pass through the wooden facade without fully exposing residents to the surrounding landscape.

Yemail Arquitectura Specialises in Modular Architecture
In addition to Casa Xecua, the studio recently created a modular “wooden cabin plus multipurpose container”.




Photography courtesy of Yemail Arquitectura
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