The Barrionuevo Villanueva Arquitectos studio sought to meet three objectives with the project. The first objective was to achieve a house that could be built quickly, the second was to ensure that the house would require low maintenance over time, and the third was to build the project on a limited budget.
To achieve these three objectives, an aesthetic similar to the typical brick coastal chalets of the area in the 1970s was chosen, reinterpreting their language to achieve a more contemporary look.
The house is raised above the ground, leaving an empty base to avoid the humidity of the ground. The reinforced concrete structure together with the bricks provide great versatility when defining the different spaces and uses, responding to the rooms of the house.
Forest Fruit House by Barrionuevo Villanueva Arquitectos. Photograph by Gonzalo Viramonte.
Project description by Barrionuevo Villanueva Arquitectos
The work is located on the picturesque Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires, with the particularity of being in the middle of the forest in the town of Mar Azul, where the pine trees are caressed by the sea breeze throughout the year.
The project evolved into a sea refuge, inviting users to feel sheltered in that particular atmosphere generated by the forest.
The project advanced under these 3 essential guidelines: contained budget, quick execution, and low or no maintenance over time. We knew that success lay in the choice of materials and their imprint. We appealed to the local collective memory, to those exposed brick chalets so characteristic of the coastal area in the 197s. Taking a bit of that memory, reinterpreting it, and thus generating a contemporary language from that resource.
The house is conceived as an extension of the landscape, where a structure of exposed concrete appears in sheets that rises from the ground leaving an empty base. In this way we protect ourselves from the humidity of the ground and ensure a better passage of time. The structure supports the loads, defines the spaces, the uses and the material expression, in collaboration with the bricks they give us enough versatility to look for in the interlocking of the pieces the answers to the needs of the different rooms of the house. In addition, they condition and intend the sunlight and the views.
The house not only seeks to be a refuge in the middle of forests but also a personal sanctuary where architecture and territory coexist in perfect harmony; it offers a space for tranquility and introspection so that its users can enjoy nature pure state.
