What architects are building for themselves?


Location: Costa Esmeralda, Buenos Aires
Architect: Arch. Luciano Kruk
Team project: Arch. Ekaterina Künzel, Arch. Luciano Kruk
Photos: Daniela Mac Adden
Aerial photos: Diego Medina
Text editing: Arch. Mariana Piqué
Land area: 1100 m²
Built area: 224 m²
Construction year: 2015



Music: 6. Serein - Atlantic

What he says


After building several houses in Costa Esmeralda, and captivated as we were by the place, my girlfriend Ekaterina and I set up to project one for ourselves there. We wanted a house where we could stay for short periods of time, suitable for having friends over and, eventually, for rental.

Costa Esmeralda is located thirteen kilometers north off the city of Pinamar and four hours away from Buenos Aires. Barrio Marítimo II, where the plot of land is located, is set parallel to the sea. A screen of pines lies between the neighborhood and the seacoast, thus respecting the 200 meter setback required by provincial regulations.

Lines of maritime pines occupied the lot, an almost virgin sand dune. Regarding the terrain’s topography, while there is a two meters slope from side to side, it descends longitudinally in a soft slant toward the sea.

With regards to the house’s illumination and given the floorplan’s depth, it was decided that the natural lighting would be reinforced from the rooftop. The crystal box containing the stairs bathes the social area’s center in sunlight. Linear cracks were incorporated into the inner partitions that limit the kitchen-dining sector in search of different natural light effects throughout the day on their surface. Also, the bathrooms were illuminated by means of skylights placed over the showers.

A big slab sustained by an inverted beams system, supported by partitions inside the floorplan, and metal columns disposed on the side limits as parts of the aluminum framings compose the supporting structure. In order to emphasize the house’s horizontality and to diminish the beams structural system’s visual impact, it was set back from the exterior enclosures, thus generating cantilevers that function as brise-soleils.

Embraced by the pines’ canopies, a peaceful contemplation space unfolds on the rooftop. Due to the transparency of the box containing the stairs, views in all directions can be experienced. Covered by a wooden deck and furnished by a shower area and two adjacent swimming pools, this viewing space is enriched by the sight of the sea.

We built a box amid a slice of nature and, by letting the exterior flow in and out through it, we made it a constituent part of its environment. Thus, the box and its surroundings merge and vibrate in consonant harmony. Through its spatial synthesis and the simple character of its materiality, we intended the house to wake its inhabitants’ perceptions and to maximize their senses, as in the mystic reciprocity the often appears between people and things.

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