GRIZZO Studio creates a house with exposed concrete, divided into two parts, generating an internal cut that allows, when walking through it, to bring light and vegetation to the different environments. The spaces are sewn together by walkways, on the ground floor and upper floor, crossing the patios and closing off from the outside by curved glass.
Interweaving straight and curved lines, inverted beams and playing with levels, and using materials such as pigmented concrete, walnut wood and terrazzo, Casa Bosque emerges as an example of a home that allows itself to be colonized by the landscape until they become inseparable, a canvas where the vitality of nature, the passage of time and the daily life of the inhabitants are captured.
Forest House by GRIZZO Studio. Photograph by Federico Kulekdjian.
Project description by GRIZZO Studio
Forest House is located in Martinez, Buenos Aires, a very green residential neighborhood. The lot on which Casa Bosque is located was a portion of the garden of an old mansion.
Nature was, without a doubt, the host of the place. We wanted to be able to maintain the feeling of being inside that leafy garden on which we began to project. This was our premise when designing, enhancing the play of light and shadows proposed by the treetops that surround it.
Due to the not so extensive dimensions of the lot and being a house between party walls, we did not have enough free land to create large open spaces. Therefore, it was decided that the project should function entirely as a garden, erasing the boundaries between the interior and the exterior, and making the house itself act as part of the exterior landscape. To do this, the walls of the house were designed with fluid organic shapes with textures and tones of tree bark so that walking through it is as if you were immersed in a forest. To achieve this, we developed a brown-pigmented exposed concrete with brushed board formwork that, between the knots of the wood and the visual richness of the exposed concrete, gives us that natural texture of bark and at the same time the nobility of the material that avoids future maintenance.
These organic structures are the support of the house and contrast with the smooth texture of gray concrete trays that are embedded in uneven surfaces and give the project the orthogonality necessary for being a house between party walls. These slabs that seem to float on the curved partitions are also the supports of vegetation that, at the top of the entire house, allow nature to be brought to every corner and give life to these concrete trunks.
The organization of the house offers different approaches to the landscape, understanding its strata through various frames, the light filtered by the vegetation and the architecture modify the spaces as the hours go by.
This is a house that allows itself to be colonized by the landscape until they become inseparable, that allows itself to be transformed by nature and the passage of time, until it is no longer possible to perceive where one begins and the other ends, as if it had always been there. The landscaping was designed in conjunction with the house as in all our projects. When walking through it, the house is divided in two by an internal cut that allows light and vegetation to enter all the rooms.
Two large cylinders frame the entrance to a hall that connects the service staircase, the office, a circular toilet and the passage to a floating bridge between the patios and the main staircase that emerges from the floor in a spiral shape inside a closed cylinder that is illuminated by a skylight.
The walkways that sew the two parts of the house, both on the ground floor and on the upper floor, crossing the patios, are closed to the outside with curved glass, creating a sensation of being outdoors when one crosses them. On the upper floor, two rooms face the front and the main room faces the back, with the best views and orientation. Once again, the bridge appears that connects the two sectors of the house, crossing the patios of the house.
The house has a set of half levels (the entrance is at +1.50, allowing the incorporation of a garage at -1.50), which allowed each room to vary its height according to its use and importance. The living room has a height of 4.50, achieving an entrance of light, cross ventilation and unique views.
The interlacing of straight and curved lines, inverted beams and a set of levels was a great structural challenge, as well as a 6-meter-long cantilever that manages to generate the gallery without any corner support.
Due to an orientation issue, the pool is located at the back of the plot, it was also designed with curved shapes and the edge grows in height, becoming the seat for the fireman.
Most of the elements designed in the house have curved shapes, the floors are made of white concrete which, being a monolithic material, allowed us to copy the curves of each step.
For the wooden doors we chose walnut as it was the shade most similar to the colour of the stained concrete. The bathrooms are covered in terrazzo made on site and copying each of the curves of the sinks. The colour of the terrazzo was specially designed for this house with a white background and brown and white stones. The carpentry is made of PVC with DVH for its airtightness, but the colour most similar to stained concrete was selected.
