LUM House / Cazú Zegers

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Text description provided by the architects. The owners, a middle-aged couple living in the countryside working with plants and essential oils, are at the origin of the concept design for this house. The husband, a person of great humor, named the house La Ultima Morada, therefore LUM. The name translates in English as: “Last Resting Place,” but LUM works only in Spanish. He also had an idea of the form, and they planted and created the garden on site, so I used his ideas and the garden as a starting point. 

The spirals observed in plant growth and described by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci (1140-1270), inspired the spiral proportions of the garden and the site placement of the house. It is a serpentine pavilion related to the sunrise for the wife’s morning meditation, and all astrological phenomena like the rising full moon and its relationship with the distant hills.

Each of these natural situations becomes a rite in their daily lives. In these everyday rituals connected to nature, the garden, and the space allow them to enjoy life in a loving and substantial way, The volume winds over a rock garden, created with Precolombian ceremonial rocks protected by a semicircular rock fence and a layer of quartz, creating an intimate living space, that centers on the axis of the primary Fibonacci curve of the house. The second curve, centered on the axis of the front yard garden, gives space to the entrance, located between the Studio and house. 

In this way, the living area and bedroom can be used as a continuous private space if there are guests. The roof controls the architecture curves, defining the volume with a diagonal ridge from one extreme to the opposite, creating a compact volume reinforced by the timber deck over the walls and roof. The interior walls are also worked as long curving lines. Hence, doors become invisible to reinforce the power of space, a tension that runs from the studio area located in the south to the main bedroom at the other end of the space.

The use of cardinal directions is another request of owners. This was not the best solution for the solar control of solar gain and climate efficiency, but it was an important issue for them. The area tends to flood in winter, so the entire volume was raised forty centimeters above ground level, a practical solution that also creates a floating space opening to the landscape. Columns supporting the roof come directly from the ground, supporting terraces from the outside, reinforcing the architectural idea of the floating pavilion. 

The project is sustainable and low budget. The effort was put into confirming the energy performance of the walls, floors, and roof layers, using Passivhaus solutions, and protecting them from the sun with externally covered corridors. These passageways also form an intermediate space open to the east and west. The quartz rock garden in the west, facing the sunset, was not a good solution in terms of climate efficiency, but articulating the desires of the owners in an efficient and balanced way also ensures the coherence of the architecture.

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Published on March 27, 2025

Cite: “LUM House / Cazú Zegers” [Casa LUM / Cazú Zegers] 27 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed .