“Arquitectura RIFA G’2010” House designed by students of the FADU of Montevideo

Description of the project by Emilio Garateguy + Ignacio Trecca, Mbad Arquitectos

Identified the problem, it is proposed that the house takes advantage of both qualities, both of land corner and of coastal terrain. The plot of 630m² is 15m wide by 42 long. The short facade facing the Rambla has a non-buildable area of 15m, which conditions its implantation towards the back of the site. It isopted to maximize the use of the terrain, solving the housing in a solid volume on the ground floor, appropriating the extensions to the outdoor spaces, looking for intimacy with respect to the nearest street and communicate fluently interior and exterior spaces in the longitudinal direction.

The access is given by a patio, generating a controlled outer spacethat also works, next to the kitchen, as a separator of the social areas and the most private ones of the house. The spiral staircase in this patio, access the barbecue and upper terrace, generating a functional circuitry. The living-dining area is located towards the Rambla, using the entire width of the constructible space. It is conceived as an open and fluid space, in connection with both the more intimate patio access and the front garden. In the farthest part of the visual and sound pollution of the Rambla are the bedrooms and services.

The services are conceived as a nucleus, also playing with the logic of the solid brick volume. In contrast, the divisions of the rest of the interior spaces are lightweight enclosures, the wooden wardrobes generate the walls and separations. In front of the two main bedrooms facing the street perpendicular to the coast, it is proposed a semi-outdoor gallery finished by a permeable brick wall, which allows a visual filter to the outside, in addition to providing an extension to the indoor spaces, creating a pleasant microclimate in the summer months, and allowing the entry of the sun in the coldest months.

Following the logic raised, we look for a contrast between the solid volume in the ground floorand the barbecue in the terrace which is lightweight and transparent. The brick is a noble material capable of achieving a hard volumebut with the sufficient versatility that allows different types of permeability thus regulating privacy and light keeping the reading of a rustic and heavy prism. At the same time, it allows a continuous perimeter on all sides of the volume, including the deck, where it is implemented a system of an elevated floorseparated from the traditional roof systemachieving the desired material continuity. We studied carefully the rigging of the brick, allowing the permeability when needed without interrupting the pace of the placement of the them.

In the roof level, the choice is different, there is a lightweight steel structure contrasting with the heaviness of the lower floor. The space retracts from the facade to generate more distance and privacy with respect to the coastal avenue, but without losing the visual connection with the sea. 
The outdoor spaces treatment is quite simple, allowing the brick volume to be the protagonist. Towards the Rambla it is proposeddenser vegetation against the limit to generate sound and visual privacy and leaving a large green esplanade as an extension of the indoor living room. 

The courtyard of the back of the site has a different character, more private and a service area for the house, where the tank and tender are located, visually filtered by a mesh with vegetation.