This document provides information about Carlos Raúl Herrea Grossmann's professional and academic works. It discusses several architecture projects he has worked on, including residential developments in Venezuela. It also outlines his experience founding an architecture firm called H2G Arquitectos c.a. that specializes in residential projects. Finally, it describes some of his academic works like a master's degree project focused on rehabilitating an existing building in Madrid, Spain with energy efficiency and bioclimatic design strategies.
2. Professional Works
The following works are a selection of the projects in
which I have collaborated during my professional
career.
3. Proyectos Parque Hábitat c.a. is an architecture
firm located in Caracas Venezuela that develops
urban - architectonic projects. It specializes in
large low cost residential projects. It also develops
commercial projects and remodeling projects as
well.
Thew mission of this firm is to develop residential
complexes in which open public space is a key
factor in order for the inhabitants to expand beyond
their dwells. Sports courts, pools, small plazas, are
some of the strategies adopted in order to achieve
this objective.
The following are the projects in which I have been
participated.
Proyectos
y
Parque Hábitat c.a.
4. Residential development [Parque Hábitat Castillejo]
This project is located in a suburb east from the city of
Caracas.
This is a “government protected” residential develop-
ment built by a private developer. In total it has 198 de-
tached units, and was finished in 2009. Because it is a
“social housing” project, the major challenge of this
project was to develop a residential unit that could
meet with the expense power of the market target. In
order to address this challenge, the house is designed
to be constructed in two phases. The first phase is com-
posed by the gorund floor, in which there are two bed-
rooms, two full bathrooms, kitchen, dinner and living
room. One side of the unit, to the front is reserved to
build a parking space for one car. The second phase has
multiple variations. On the first place it can be devel-
oped a a separate one bedroom apartment, with an
independent acces. The other two variations contem-
plate the expansion of the house, which aims to build
two more bedrooms (growing from a two to a four bed-
room unit) or the second option is to create a small
home-office/studio space.
About the urban design, this project aims to create a
series of small parks in which the residents can perform
leisure activities. Also there are two sport facilities for
the residents.
Phase 1 Phase 2
5.
6. Mixed use development [Parque Hábitat El Encantado]
This development is located in a suburb close to the city of Caracas. The
project combines a commercial (Southern part of the site) and a residen-
tial site to the north. The residential development has 480 apartment
units distributed in 22 buildings. The centre of the project was envisaged
to be a large open, green and community space with parks, sports facili-
ties and other amenities. For project for the commercial site is a small
shopping centre. This building designed to accomodate basic services for
the surrounding communities.
To meet with the stakeholders expectations, for this project there were
developed two different types of buildings within the same structure and
facades. The bigest challenge was to increase the number of apartments
that could be built in the same building. This led to design more efficient
units that could meet the local building standards, as well as the market
demand.
The first layout, type A, has four units per level, with three different types
of apartments. One, two or three bedroom apartments, from 55m2 to
85m2 approximately. The second layout, type B, has six units per level. It
only has two kind of units, one and two bedroom apartments around
57m2 per unit. The reason to develop a building under this concept was
to improve the flexibility of the building and project’s profit. In order to be
able to develop such as a flexible building it was necessary to carefully
study how the different systems (electricity, drinking water, waste-water)
should be designed and built, in order to avoid interferences as well as to
improve the systems performance in order to reduce the building’s costs.
This strategy of improving the flexibility of the building’s layout and
maximizing the number of apartments that could be sold, turned out to
exceed the client’s expectations.
7.
8. Shopping Centre [Comercial Site]
Location Plan
Ground Level Plan
Upper Level
First Level Plan
Second Level Plan Secccio CC
9. Multi dwelling housing building [Parque Hábitat el Milagro]
This project is located in the eastern city of Maracaibo in Venezuela. This
city has the highests temeratures averages during the year. This led to
take particular atention to improve the solar protection on the facades.
The location of the city of Maracaibo is in the north of Venezuela, next to a
large salt water lake. The building’s site is located close to the west coast
of the lake. That was an advantage due to the average wind direction
comes from the East, which means that in most part of the year the wind
brings within it cool air from the water mass.
The building is twelve stories high. The lower two first levels were
designed to work as a private parking lot. On top of this there is a central
plaza, which is the main public space of the building. On the same level,
to the east, there is a terrace that complements the building’s communi-
tary spaces. From this level up, there are ten levels with twenty eight units
per level, to sum up a total of two hundred eighty units, divided in five
unit types.
This project is in the final phase of it’s construction.
11. Parque Hábitat El Ingenio.
Due to the size, 980 dwellings, this residential development is designed to
be built in four stages.
In order to achieve the goal of building more than 750 dwellings in the
same project, there was a lot of time researching, modeling, prototyping
and evaluating different approaches to optimize the housing unit. The
result of this work was an important improvement of the building system.
The material waste was reduced, and the construction process was
systematize to increase the building speed.
There are two types of units. The first one is arround the 65m2 in a split
level unit. The ground level hosts the public spaces of the house, while in
the upper level are the two bedrooms and one bathroom. The second
unit type is about 95m2 splited in thre levels. As well as the first type the
ground level hosts the kitchen, dinner room and living room, while the
two upper levels hosts four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The houses are aligned in a wat that each unit has two entrences. One
side goes to a lane, which is conected to the centre park, while the other
ones conects with the inner street and the parking space.
12. Site Plan
Common Plan / Section
First Level Plan Ground Level Plan
13. Multi dwelling housing building [Caraballeda Suites]
This project is located in the in the town of Caraballeda, which is down to
the coast about 30 km from the city of Caracas. This makes it one of the
best weekend get away location for the city dwellers.
The project was design to meet with two different kind of buyers. On the
first place, it had to meet with the people who were looking for a leisure
property to spend weekends and hollydays. Also it had to take into
account a share of the market which involves the local inhabitants who
rather commute to the city and live close to the coast. In order to do so,
the project was conceived with units flexible enough to meet with both
demands. Also it offers amenities as a marina, which is also available to
the general public.
The building is ten stories high. The lower two first levels were designed
to work as a private parking lot. The third level wors as a central plaza with
the main amenities and public spaces of the building. From this level up,
there are 7 levels with a total of 48 units, and the last level alocates 28
split level apartments, to sum a total of 76 apartments.
14. Site Plan
Levels 1 - 6
Pent House Lower Level
Site Plan
Pent House Upper Level
15. Business Centre [Banco Occidental de Descuento]
This project is located in the in the city of Maturin, in the East side of
Venezuela. This city is know to be the headquartes of different oil compa-
nyes which works in this area.
The owner of the site is a private bank. Their expectations were to build a
business centre that could accomodate their regional offices, as well as
some commercial-office space to lease, a convention centre and a com-
mercial use ground level.
The orientation of the building site only allows the development of a
building that is alingned in a north-south direction, which means that the
main facades will be exposed to the east and west sun all year long. In
order to address this issue, the eastern and western facades should be
treated according to their own conditions in order to improve the comfort
inside the building.
Following are presented two proposals to the project.
18. H2G Arquitectos c.a. is an architecture firm located
in Caracas Venezuela that develops residential and
commercial architecture projects.
This studio was founded in 2005 after I obtained my
degree as Bachelor in Architecture in Venezuela.
The studio specializes in residential projects (single
& Multi Familiar). It also has participated in interior
renovations of commercial spaces, such as offices
and stores.
The following are the projects developed by this su-
tudio.
H2G Arquitectos c.a.
19. Camirra’s Residence.
Lower level Plan View
Upper level Plan View
Easte Facade
Upper Level
Section AA Section BB
21. Cerro Verede Renovation [Interiorism Renovation.]
Section AA
Section BB
Room Plan [Original State]
Upper Level
Section CC
Room Plan [Proposal] Section DD
22. Concert Hall Rehabilitation.
This project was a proposal to renovate a old cinema theatre and transform it into a concert hall for the “Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles
de Venezuela”. Unfortunately this project was only developed to the preliminary stage.
The main idea of this rehabilitation was to build a concert hall next to the offices of the Foundation for small concerts and plays. For this was necessary to
create a lobby capable of adaptate to different kind of events. As the lobby the concert hall itself, has kind of the same principle, to adapt to diferent kind of
events, from a single violin play to an orchestra concert. It was necessary to create all the backstage spaces as well as the service spaces needed to perfom
these kind of events.
Lower Level Upper Level
[lobby - Bar - Offices] [Concert Hall - Backstage]
Concert hall service spaces
Concert Hall
Stage Backstage
Offices + Bar [Lobby service spaces] Lobby
Section - [Proposal]
24. The objective aims to rehabilitate an existing building taking into consideration energy efficiency concepts as well as passive bioclimatic design strategies. To be able
to do this it is necessary separate the project in differnt stages.
First it is necessary to evaluate the work place. This analysis allows to understand how the area works and which are their inhabitants needs. The indicators which
can be studied are buildings accesibility improvement, increase vegetated areas, analyze motorized traffic and acces to public transportation. Besides this Ürban
performance”indicators, it is also necesary to studi the work place with a climatic perspective. In this case indicators such as the sun-path and the buildings shadows
affect the public space and the other near bildings, as well as how prevailing winds run trough the open spaces and how does they collaborate with the natural ventila-
tion of the dwelling units. Rainfall volumes are very important, due to in Madrid rainfall levels are not high. Finally, and to end this stage, an Bioclimatis Analysis
trough the Olgiay Climatic Diagram is performed to see which pasive design strategies should be used while the project is developed.
After ending with the analysis stage and having collected all the data, we proceed to select a building to develop the project.
master degree project.
25. Location
This project is located in the periferic neig-
borhood of San Blas, Madrid.
This kind of developments was part of one
of the many urban plans that the city devel-
oped back in the seventee’s. The objective
of these plans was to promote low-cost
housing projects.
Upper Level
30. THE FACADE. 1 building. 4 visions.
This project has as its point of origin a personal concern which is that trough the last three decades the facade
of the buildings have become the result of the functional distribution of the space instead of being an element
to be designed as well.
Throughout history, the facade appart of having a functional roll (protection from the enviroment) it has had
a meaning rol. Through it the different stages and movements of architecture history are represented.
An historic timeline allow us to understand the significative value of the facade through time, and at the same
time to question how it is being used in the present.
“... Is it really the result of the functional distribution of spaces or it can be a part to be thinked and de-
signed with the same intensity?...”
This work looks foward to investigate the value of the facade at the present time. To achieve this, an observa-
tion of different buildings types and the stablishment of different categories, plus an analisys of these building
types to discover how the facade is being used in each and everyone of the cases.
This observation and analysis process will results in the creation of four categories: the Walkthrough facade,
the Digital-cromatic facade, the transformation facade and the Appearence facade. Each one of this catego-
ries will be taken into consideration at the design stage of the proyect.
In order to develop the building, I decided to continue with the last semester project. This left an area for
future development.
Instead of following the convetional design process, I decided to take the facade as the point of origin. As
the facade design evolves, there appear diferent hints, which will be used to define the possible use of the
internal spaces, in other words, the quality of the space will be determined by the behaviour of the facade
and the type of inside - outside relation that i would determine.
bachelor degree project.
32. The space as concept. The Facade. (External parameter of the building)
Essential fundaments of the form in architec- The Facade as an Enveloping “... The facade and the meaning.
ture. the surface encloses, it is the
Fonatti, Franco. element that defines an object, Through the facade the architecture is related to
difference between interior & ex- both the environment and the user simultane-
Outer Space. “... the outer space exists a priori [...] terior. The surface defines the ously. At the same time it expresses intentions
it is defined as the space in which human activities, in appearance of the objects. A dif- and it has many meanings as well. “... Architec-
contrast to the interior space, are minimized. (August ferent arrangement in space of ture comunicates to those who observe it for what
Sarnitz). the same elements can shape a it has been made, so it’s main meaning is it’s use
new space. The two dimensional ...”
Interior Space. ”... the interior space exists only with condition of the surface denies
the existence of the human being [...] the built space the possibility of containing From here it is possible to talk about a dual role
is artificial. The influences of the environment are space itself ...” in architecture of the facade as a means of ex-
eliminated by the protective function of the interior pression. The first one as an utilitarian function,
space. The transition between the outer and the inner The facade as a space “... The which expresses the buildingss use. In second
space, according to the influences of the environ- envelope also determines the place it is a symbolic rol, which expresses ideas
ment, are resolved according to the different levels of look or the appearance of ob- and concepts. So, “... the symbolic value of the
altitude” (August Sarnitz) jects, it implies to surround an architecture it is not only in in the building itself
object, and it can also determine and how it relates with others, but with the build-
Actual condition of the Space. its limits, but as the develop- ing and those who inhabit it...”
ment of various surfaces in
Outer Space. Privatization of the outer space ... inte- space, part of it can become a
rior condition of the public space ... the outer space space in itself, a transitional
as a consequence of the construction of the inner space between the exterior and
space ... regain the outer space ... seek a new public the interior” [...] “... the enclo-
- technological & informative space. sure, having the possibility of
creating space in itself, estab-
Interior Space. Informative space ... it emphasizes lishes a space - content area -
the use of the interior space over the outer space outside relationship through a
space and not by a two-
dimensional element that is not
necessarily contained in it, and
could create uncertainty in the
interior - exterior relationship..."
The Interior Facade. This type of enclosure separates
and connect at the same time an interior space with
an outer contained space.
Facade - Content. Responds to the own qualities
of the space, without taking in consideration the
use of it ... outside-inside & inside-inside rela-
tionships.
Facade - Form. Responds to a compositive-
plastic condition ... formal & material exploration
in order to transform how it looks.
Facade - Function. Responds to how the spase is
used ... the facade as the result of the functional
organization of the interior space.
37. URBAN DESIGN. Building the public space.
The parameters that rule the open space are very
diferent from the ones which prevail in the interior.
The pedestrians, the vehicules, the flows (with thier
densities and intensities) are some off the factors to
take into consideration at the moment to design.
To begin with this projetc, first is necesary to anal-
ize the work place. In this case it is going to be a
very important urban corridor in the city of Caracas,
Venezuela. The objective of this analysis is to show
a series of indicators in order to adress the effort in
a more efficient way. After the anlysis, one of the
identifided placeces will be chosen to develop a
public space, according to the needs of the place.
The Boulevard del Cafetal” is an important road
axys within the city of Caracas. This axys conects
many residential zones with the rest of the city.
The main needs of it are: Recover the walking con-
dition of the boulevard, provide the same number of
of roadlanes along the whole route.
The public space to be developed will be a plaza.
This plaza will be compesed by three parts, a pedes-
trian border, a low intensity zone and a high inten-
sity zone. The pedestrian border consist in the
inclusion of the sidewalk into the plaza, at this
moment the sidewalk becomes part of the plaza
without loosing it’s movement space condition. The
low intensity zone is conformed by a vegetal border,
which as a park allows the public to read, rest, play
games, etc. The high intensity zone is a skate park.
It is located in the center of the plaza and it sepa-
rates from the the rest of plaza at the moment it’s
depresed. Another part to be taken into consider-
ation is that a zone of the site is left empty. This
zone will be left ti be developed with the construc-
tion of a building. This one could be a cultural or a
comercial building.
