Mar Mediterraneo 34 Housing Units

Inca Hernandez's Mar Mediterraneo 34 Housing Units presents a striking architectural composition captured during the evocative blue hour, where a meticulously restored Second Empire-style façade commands attention against the soft gradient of twilight sky transitioning from pale lavender at the horizon to deeper cerulean above. The building's white stucco exterior, rendered in what appears to be a warm ivory with subtle grey undertones suggesting limestone or painted masonry, rises three stories with classical horizontal articulation marked by pronounced cornices and string courses that create rhythmic shadows across the surface. The mansard roof, clad in dark slate-grey tiles arranged in a traditional fish-scale pattern, culminates in a distinctive pyramidal tower capped with the same material, creating a vertical accent that anchors the asymmetrical composition. Fenestration follows a carefully calibrated hierarchy: the ground floor presents an arched central entrance flanked by rectangular openings with warm interior illumination spilling outward like captured amber light, while the piano nobile features tall windows crowned by arched transoms with delicate wrought-iron balconettes displaying scrollwork patterns. The attic level reveals characteristic dormer windows with triangular pediments set into the mansard slope, their interiors glowing with the same honeyed warmth. A central oculus window framed by an elaborate cartouche motif provides the compositional focal point of the upper façade, its circular form creating geometric counterpoint to the predominantly rectilinear vocabulary. The photograph employs long-exposure technique evidenced by the crimson and white light trails streaming horizontally through the lower register, suggesting vehicular passage that introduces dynamic temporal dimension to the otherwise static architectural portrait. Compositionally, the building occupies the right two-thirds following an approximate golden section division, balanced by the urban context at left including utility poles with their web of electrical lines creating linear counterpoint against the sky, and adjacent structures of varying age and condition that contextualize the restoration's achievement. The chromatic palette operates within a sophisticated limited range: the warm whites and creams of the restored façade, the cool slate blues and greys of the roofing, the deep charcoal of window frames and metalwork, punctuated by the verdant accents of street trees and potted plants at ground level, all unified by the pervasive blue-violet atmospheric light of dusk. Shadow behavior demonstrates the soft, diffused quality of transitional lighting, with minimal harsh shadows allowing architectural detail to remain legible while the warmly illuminated interiors create intimate contrast against the cooling exterior atmosphere.

Mar Mediterraneo 34 emerges as a strategy to give a second life to an eclectic style house in advance deterioration built in 1910. Multiple artistic and artisanal elements were recovered from the main facade. The main patio is reconstructed as a reinterpretation of the past, portraying the arrangement of the old portals as a sequence of light and shadow, these openings rise intermittently in double height from a volcanic stone baseboard and become a solid element of introspective architecture. The restored house has 3 levels with 7 apartments that adapt to different spaces.