Description
The Casa La Roca is a luxury holiday house located in José Ignacio, a small fishermen’s village with only permanent 300 inhabitants turned opulent resort, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean 40 kilometres north-east of Punta del Este. Most new houses built in this rapidly growing popular holiday destination are for temporary occupation during the summer season December and January – rather than for permanent occupation.
The Roca house sits on a rectangular 8OO-square-metre site, perpendicular to the ocean, on the southernmost tip of José Ignacio. The house consists of two volumes of similar dimensions connected by a bridge on the east side. Together, these three components form an open courtyard. Since the site slopes down towards the beach and sideways to the east, only the northern volume rests directly on the ground. This three-storey volume contains an accommodation for the housekeeper, two double bedrooms and one bathroom on the ground level as well as the en suite master bedroom on the first floor. The single-storey southern volume stands on stilts above the rocks and the beach. It contains the kitchen, living and dining areas, as well as a guest bathroom. The space underneath the southern volume is the main entryway and works also as a transition between the house and the beach. This arrangement adds a slight sense of drama to the house and magnifies the views of the ocean. To avoid direct sunlight, there are no windows on the north side, and all windows on the south and west are recessed, forming generous covered terraces.
Similar to Casa Techos, the main structure is made of concrete, but it is only exposed in the master bedroom, which protrudes above the rest of the house. All external walls are clad in wood, a material that is also used for internal partitions and as floor finish throughout the house. Stairs, handrails, window frames and part of the substructure are made of extraordinarily well crafted metal. The work of Klotz belongs to a tradition of architectural formalism which pays particular attention to volumetric composition and the articulation of different materials. Indeed, his work has had a great deal of influence on an entire generation of young Chilean architects.
East facade
South facade
View from the master bedroom
Entry terrace on the western side of the house
Originally published in: Felipe Hernández, Beyond Modernist Masters. Contemporary Architecture in Latin America, Birkhäuser, 2009.