Description

This small house is located approximately 300 kilometres northwest of Rosario and was conceived for permanent habitation. The basic programme – living and dining room, kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom – presented the challenge of mediating between the immensity of the landscape and the comparatively insignificant size of the house. In order to resolve this conflict, Campodonico located the building near a group of trees and extended a series of walls towards the north. The trees provide a more appropriate scale to the single-storey house while the walls create a sense of depth, enclosure and intimacy. Accessing the residence occurs through these elements, trees and walls, which gradually mark the transition into the house.

As for the house, the L-configuration facilitates the functional distribution of spaces. The bedroom, bathroom and kitchen are in the north wing (programmatically the smaller areas), liberating the south wing for the living and dining room.

In order to create a shadowy environment and avoid solar gain, there are only a few small windows. Shade has an important psychological effect in a context were temperatures regularly exceed 30°C and luminosity is high. In sum, this small brick house displays great sophistication in the way different and contrasting scales are articulated. The architect achieved to create a homely environment with minimum resources in a desolate site with harsh environmental conditions.

---

Originally published in: Felipe Hernández, Beyond Modernist Masters. Contemporary Architecture in Latin America, Birkhäuser, 2009.