Casa Tejida, the paradise where clouds come for breakfast

Casa Tejida is a house that is accessible to the outside world, with a wall made of natural textile fibres, built by hand but largely prefabricated and easily assembled anywhere by anyone; it is a place where living has been rationalised in order to build as little as possible and make room for life and nature

In an isolated rural community in the Cundinamarca region of Colombia, just a few kilometres from Bogotà, where the morphology of the land has allowed precious biodiversity and a protected, and therefore still strong, community tradition, the architects of Zuloark are conducting this architectural experiment intended to unite the local culture and enrich it by bringing new ways of approaching the concept of living and building

Wooden constructions do not have a great tradition in the area, where they are generally seen as poor housing, but they do guarantee the lowest possible impact on the environment, and the Zuloark team, who lived in the community for six months to build Tejida House, is trying to educate the population about this sustainable approach by involving the community in an open, participatory design and construction process

On the other hand, Zuloark makes the most of local construction techniques, crafts and materials, for example when, on the way from Bogotà to the project site, they meet by chance Maria who sells furniture and textiles made of natural fibres: together with her they have worked on adapting weaving techniques to a building element, the façade of Casa Tejida, innovating both the architecture and Maria's work

A sort of collective awareness and mutual learning between the people of the paradise known as Vereda Fical in the municipality of Nocaima in Cundinamarca and the Zuloark studio, which has produced this home which is both traditional and somewhat unconventional. Speaking of a new approach, "build less" is the architects' motto for saving the environment. the built area, using a wooden floor that makes every corner of the house a possible living space and eliminating corridors, transitional spaces and partitions. And also, since the climate allows it, dematerialising the façades, creating a house that is completely open to the environment, where some mornings the clouds come in for breakfast...