Private commission to design a villa on a hilltop with dramatic views of the Sesquile mountains inside a historic hacienda near the town of Suesca , Cundinamarca in Colombia

Rammed Earth House in Suesca

Perched atop a hill within the grounds of a 500-year-old historic hacienda in Suesca, this contemporary rammed earth house continues a centuries-old conversation between architecture and landscape. Built from the very soil it sits upon, the project reinterprets ancestral construction techniques in a form that responds directly to the site’s topography, views, and solar orientation.

The design begins with the land. The house is partially embedded into the hillside, allowing it to harness the earth’s thermal mass while minimizing its visual impact. This strategy creates a unique spatial sequence: visitors arrive at the upper level, entering the home at its highest point to immediately take in panoramic views of the valley below. This upper level accommodates the primary living spaces and the main bedroom suite, all oriented to maximize natural light and the dramatic landscape beyond.

The plan bends gently along its length, a subtle curvature that follows the path of the sun and opens the house to shifting views across the valley. This gesture reinforces the building’s integration with the land, allowing each space to receive optimal sunlight throughout the day.

A defining feature of the house is the use of lucarnes—carefully placed light wells that draw daylight deep into the interior. These vertical apertures are oriented to track the sun, filling the home with ever-changing natural light while maintaining a strong sense of materiality and enclosure.

Descending to the lower level, the house opens into more private and grounded spaces. This level houses additional bedrooms, a guest apartment, and a studio, all embedded into the hillside. These spaces benefit from cooler temperatures and a stronger physical connection to the earth, while still enjoying carefully framed views and direct access to the landscape.

Constructed entirely from rammed earth, the house pays homage to the original hacienda’s enduring material presence. The thick, expressive walls provide structure, insulation, and a tactile link to the land transforming each wall into a geological cross-section of the site itself.

This is not merely a home, but a contemporary earthen dwelling that lives in harmony with its environment, an architecture of permanence, light, and grounded elegance.

A project for a 4 house building made of rammed earth construction