丨阿根廷

Architects:MALVINA ZAYAT estudio de arquitectura

Area:131m²

Year:2024

Photographs:Juan Cruz Paredes

Category:Houses

Structural Engineering:Edgar Morán

Country:Argentina

Text description provided by the architects. House in the forest is located on a 12-hectare plot in the Sierras Chicas. The location was chosen with the goal of ensuring the house is embraced and protected by the trees.

Three factors were decisive in the project: the maximum preservation of the existing forest, the absence of a water supply network, and the artisan blacksmith profession of one of the clients, who would be the ones to build their home.

Two volumes are arranged between the trees: one includes the living room, kitchen, dining room, and a storage area for motorcycles and bicycles, while the other contains the main bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, and guest room.

The connection between them occurs through a third volume that links the two wings of the house and provides access.

The house was conceived to enhance the experience of the landscape. To enter, a walkway begins to rise between the trees, leading to an entrance atrium. Here, the path of rainwater becomes present: gutters, suspended like trays from the structure, frame the sky and converge into a vertical metal drain, which collects the water and lets it fall noisily, serving as a welcoming sound.

The entrance door is a completely blind façade, designed to emphasize the surprise when it is opened. When this happens, the architecture disappears, and the landscape appears. The low-scale horizontal ceiling, the presence of wood on the sides, and minimal furniture form this space, which serves as a transition between the exterior and interior, while also linking the two rotated volumes.

The interior space of the house is completed by the exterior forest. The glazed façade on the north and northeast sides incorporates the trees into the interior spaces, blending shadows, colors, and sounds.

The exit threshold acts as a transitional space: a place for sculptures, seating, and an extension of the house.

The structure envelops and suspends the house above the ground. Four steel frames form each volume, transferring their loads to the floor via concrete columns that disappear into the shadows and bushes.

The frames take on the color of the trees and establish a rhythm. On the south side, they support the gutters and drains.

The climatic conditions and the absence of certain services intensified the focus on the home's energy efficiency, opting for maximum thermal insulation with polyurethane insulating panels in the ceilings and walls, PVC windows with double-glazed glass (DVH), and thermal bridge breakage.

For heating, a heat pump system was chosen, which supplies fan coils and underfloor heating.

Rainwater is collected, stored, and reused. The house’s wastewater is treated using phytoremediation systems for black water and sedimentation treatment for gray water, which is then used for irrigation.

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