Casa Pillagua

Quito, Ecuador

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Casa Pillagua

Quito, Ecuador

Firm

NAJAS ARQUITECTOS

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2014

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Located in Quito’s Cumbayá Valley, Pillagua House is the result of an intense, collaborative design process between our studio and a young family of four—who, mid-process, became a family of five.

The site’s topography presented a significant challenge: a steep 40-degree incline from the street, seemingly incompatible with the client’s request for a flat garden and a strict budget.

Our first objective was to strategically manage the main floor’s placement in order to create a usable, flat garden with minimal excavation and financial impact. The main garden and private areas were placed at the back of the site, cutting into the slope just enough to create a platform without disconnecting it from the terrain, and ensuring the street access remained at a comfortable height.

Three parking spaces are positioned at street level. Pedestrian access becomes an experience of its own—an exterior staircase that creates a gradual and expressive ascent to the house.

The best views of the surrounding natural landscape are toward the front of the site, opposite from the garden. To capture them, the bedrooms were placed on the second floor within two cantilevered volumes. From the street, they appear discreet and private, but from the interior, they frame the distant vistas with precision.

On the ground floor, the social areas open entirely toward the garden. The rear slope was transformed into a vertical garden with local, colorful vegetation, turning what could be a retaining wall into a living, breathing canvas.

All main floor windows facing the garden—kitchen, dining, and living room—can be fully retracted to create seamless integration between indoors and out, extending daily life to the BBQ and green areas.

A single transverse circulation axis connects the interior, ending in floor-to-ceiling framed windows that function as curated views—natural paintings within the architecture.

Ultimately, the project delivers a home that feels private and contained from the street, yet radically open and connected from within—an introspective family sanctuary defined by its integration with nature and transparency of everyday life.