Building Houses

The command of industrial designers from A4 Estudio has developed the private house in Mendoza, Argentina.

Great Hall for All Tastes

The house is combined with a workplace, thus A4 Estudio's designers have organized one floor at once for all demands: habitation, contemplation, pool, rest... All family space is organized in one great volume. The square lay-out of inhabited space provides excellent day illumination and panoramic views. In the center of the house there is an internal hall which became the heart of the given project.

Interior Decorating

KLM Arquitectos

Casa BR

Breaking up a large house into smaller volumes to fit with the location was the challenge KLM Arquitectos took up in a new waterside development in the north of Buenos Aires province.

The house is located in a neighbourhood in the north of Buenos Aires.
Build on the shore of a Lake and the only double lot in the neighbourhood meant the house already had more presence than the rest. The strategy behind the design was to create a unified collection of separate volumes to give the appearance of multiple units rather than a massed whole from the curb side. Minimising the six hundred square metres of the house and fitting with the scale of the surrounding houses was the mammoth task.

Yet in doing so they also looked to achieve a degree of intimacy and isolation from the surrounding architecture, their intention was to create a micro-climate within the C shaped design of the house. The project has as much emphasis on controlling both the views from the rear of the house, as it does on controlling views in from the other three sides. From the roadside the white mass of the house is broken up through the used of redwood doors and entrance panelling, subtly set aglow by uplights in the evening.



The dissolution of the boundaries between inside and outside is a defining result of the design. There’s a wide variety of visual connections through the open plan house, across both the horizontal planes of the two levels and as double height space between the two, resulting in a certain spatial complexity. These connections form a series of interior courtyards, a few single level, others double height and with different proportions, acting as gateways from inside to out and at the same time acting as recipients of both direct and filtered natural light.



Organized simply, the ground floor focuses on leisure and services and the top floor is of a more private nature and firmly geared towards sunshine and the views. The kitchen, set in the eastern wing of the C shaped layout, protrudes out into the garden. Fantastic use of the solid white kitchen top means the gas hobs, sink and preparing area, extend down to form the breakfast table for 6 and an eat in kitchen. Conveniently located just outside the kitchen door, is a built in BBQ with basin, under a loggia created by the upstairs bedrooms.
Rounding out the ground floor are a series of living areas, separated for formal and informal entertaining by a tree filled courtyard to the front, and an internal bamboo courtyard to the rear, which provides the occupants with glimpses back through to arriving guests and forms a small reception area, rather than letting the front door straight into the living room.



Heading upstairs, all four upstairs bedrooms face north-northeast and capture the most of the afternoon sun and views, each with an en-suite bathroom. The tree filled courtyard below extends up allowing for a corridor behind that separates the master suite to the west, from the rest of the bedrooms. Adding to the master bedroom are: a walk in wardrobe (almost the size of the other bedrooms), a large sunken tub, and deck with spiral stairs down to the pool.

Plans




Architects: KLM arquitectos
Federico Kelly, Paula Lestard & Hernan Maldonado
Collaborators: Maria Guglielmini, Graciana Grau & Alejandro Campagnola
Project Completed: Dec 2007
Location: Talar del Lago 2. Partido de Tigre. Provincia de Buenos Aires.
House Size: 600m²
Plot Area: 1800m²

via: KLM Arquitectos

House Construction

KLM Kelly-Lestard-Maldonado Arquitectos

Casa San Isidro

KLM Kelly-Lestard-Maldonado Arquitectos have come up with the obvious solution to obtain maximum view of the nearby river. The BBQ, deck and living areas are all elevated, whilst the teens' bedrooms lead out to the swimming pool (great for a morning dip) and the master bedroom opens to a private courtyard behind those "folded" concrete dividers.

Casa San Isidro
Camino de la Ribera 141, San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Project: 2004
Construction: 2005
KLM Kelly-Lestard-Maldonado Arqs.
Construction Company: Obras privadas SRL
Area: 300m2

As mentioned, the house is located a very short distance from Río de la Plata. In order to maximise views of said river, a fundamental initial design decision was made to place the dining room and living room on the first floor. All the bedrooms are on the ground floor next to the pool and garden, and on the 2nd Floor is a rumpus, multi use space for expansion.
A singular air and circulation passage links the entrance gates, right through the house, to the pool and bottom of the garden. The pool is then linked through an exterior staircase to the main level of the first floor, pergola and BBQ that capture the sun sunset in the distance. Sliding wood and aluminium complete the perimeter of the house and provide security as the bottom levels seal up completely, forming a warm wooden facade.

The stairs, situated beside the entrance, link the three levels while emphasising vertically the whole house.

Conveniently this layout fits a lot of my criteria in terms of family house design. The living area is public, catches views and is viewed, and while the and sleeping level is secure, with kids close to parents, the private courtyard gives them somewhere to retreat to. It's a modern design yet feels more lived in than many "clinically" minimalist designs.

via: KLM Kelly-Lestard-Maldonado Arquitectos

House Construction

In the main focal area of the house Miguel has created the ideal open plan living area for a weekend retreat. It's multi purpose, acting as a kitchen, dining and guest bunk area for busy weekends. The central open-planned-ness can be closed up by shutters and still has a feeling of intimacy/security with the solid stone structures in each corner. These pillars house the kitchen, bathroom and service areas (being a pantry and cellar, as all good Argentinean houses should with their fine Cab. Sav.s about).

So it's a house full of intimate nooks, an open plan area that can be both breeze filled open dining and living area, created with vernacular materials in a modern way forming a house that fits with its environment and its purpose as a weekend retreat.

Behind the open structure of the living room is a tower, wrapped in a glass encased staircase. The staircase runs around the outside, allowing views to all 4 directions as one circulates. I guess, allowing the owner to check on things as he heads up to bed and that things are in order for the day as he decends for breakfast. This means the inner structure can be more sincere with each floor set for its purpose housing: a study, bedroom and viewing platform on the top floor.

My wishes/thoughts for a similar house: -

The flat roof lends itself to a modern green or solar roof and the layout north-south will provide a lot of passive solar heating. I can also see the stone areas regulating the temperature of those large glass enclosed spaces, but remember the shutters can protect the area slightly.

If only he had created larger corner units and housed bedrooms in these. This would give everyone the sense of living in their own little cabin (protected stone cave), yet still being connected to a central gathering area.

Or one step further, to provide a sound buffer, separate the bedrooms out from the main structure in a series of covered pathways. But then again, that's me thinking of a family size house, this here works fantastic as a couples retreat where the family comes and stays on the odd occasion. And the tower gives them that split between repose and recreation.

Images follow

From Miguel's website - Notes on the project that I've translated.