Azara house + studio

This project combines a house for a family -a couple and two children- with an architecture studio, in a low-density residential area.

The sequence of spaces, the montage of scenes through moving and staying in the different spaces was an important aspect during the design process. Forms and materials are the background of events: dining with friends, gathering with family, watching TV, studying, drinking mate. Architecture as a stage of events.

The concept started to take shape by choosing the plot, looking for the best orientation for our intention of having the social areas of the house in direct relation to the patio. The initial sight of the empty plot is something we did not want to lose: the perception of this big open space as a whole should not become totally fragmented.

The composition is markedly horizontal: the heights of the vertical surfaces are uniform through the house. Vertical surfaces -with a certain materiality- create places.

The composition is derived from the four patio-cross plan types, creating these open spaces:

. THRESHOLD: a space for access and cars, as a transition with the street. The perforated sheet metal gates can open totally to connect fluidly the house to the urban space.

. TERRACES: oriented to the North, facing the social area of the house, diagonally from the access to the house. A little forest, or secret garden, creates an edge to the patio.

. CONDUCT: it connects the THRESHOLD with the main patio. This space is a derivation from a type of house found in the barrios of pampeana cities, which link the street to the deepest area of the plot by a lateral space.

. NAKANIWA: it is connected to the TERRACES. It is a garden shared by the three bedrooms: a garden within the patio, recreating the traditional Japanese concept of nakaniwa.

The open spaces, with different scales, are connected but are not entirely visible among them, related to the traditional Japanese concept of miegakure: hide and reveal.

Each space of the house relates itself with the exterior in a certain way:

. Social areas: Total transparency that allows contact with the exterior and great luminosity. The eaves create galleries of different characteristics, being also product of a careful study on how to protect glass from the sun in summer, while gaining sun rays on winter.

. Bathrooms: Punctured walls, sun rays turned into colours.

. Library: A high horizontal window provides light, with a view restricted to the sky.

. Bedrooms: Openings in walls, allowing spatial and visual connection, with a certain perception of protection.

. Studio: A wall with holes, in an apparently random fashion, generates a filter providing controlled and varied sights. The textured black façade appears to be stuck to the studio, adopting an urban image. The studio, in addition to its specific function, becomes an intermediate space between urban and domestic domains.

Storage strategy was given special consideration and it has been resolved by shelves embedded in the walls of the different spaces of the house, hidden by floor-to-ceiling doors, with identical finish to the internal walls.