Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House

ARQUITECTURA RIFA GEN´08 HOUSE

Martin Mitropulos + Facundo Álvarez

Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Valentina Chozas

ARCHITECTS
Martin Mitropulos, Facundo Álvarez

PHOTOGRAPHS
Valentina Chozas, Elias Martinez

AREA
110.0 m2

YEAR
2015

LOCATION
Montevideo, Uruguay

CATEGORY
Houses

Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine

Text description provided by architect.

The project is located in Villa Dolores, Montevideo, a residential area of small houses, which still retains a neighborhood dynamic. In a site between party walls 10 meters wide by 20 meters deep, we were to develop a 100 m2 house.

INTENTIONS /

As a townhouse to be designed in a small site, the challenge was to create an open, ordered system. The aim was to achieve a pleasant space, a place that offers the possibility of distension, rest and leisure.

The courtyard, garden and terraces are essential to bring about these experiences, and establish a strong relationship with the outside air and light.

Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine

OPENNESS / FLUIDITY / TRANSPARENCY

The first decision is to place a defined and delimited block in the center of the site, which takes advantage the front setback as transitional space between the street and the house, and frees a garden at the back.

This block is designed in three half levels, which organize multiple environments and differentiate public and private sectors. The bedrooms are "buried" seeking privacy, and the higher levels generate a fluid and dynamic space.

Within this volume, courtyards and terraces play and interact with each other and provide direct and indirect environments relationships to the different living areas.

Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine

Each of the rooms of the house is projected to the outside: the bedroom with the back garden, kitchen with barbecue sector, and the living room has direct access to a green terrace. Working with filters and transparencies, we manage to create a relationship of spaces through views between the different levels and courtyards.

Through lateral links, we relate spatially and visually the different spaces, thus achieving an integral perception of the sum of them. An envelope of three planes formally defines the volume. The front facade is presented as a visual and material screen, a delicate fabric of vertical iron slats painted white providing security and lightness.

MATERIALS

Material decisions become important to emphasize these ideas of fluidity, transparency and lightness. The play of light and shadows on the white walls is highlighted.

Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Valentina Chozas

The polished concrete floor in the living room, kitchen and barbecue generate a sense of continuity.On the lower level, the floor becomes wooden bamboo planks to provide the bedrooms with more warmth. The window openings, from floor to ceiling, integrate as much as possible inside and outside.

In the background, a set of modulated awnings form a plane which controls the input of light from the west facade.

Finally, horizontal blinds covering courtyards and terraces, form with the slabs a horizontal plane which consolidates the block shape. The boundaries are blurred, the interior and exterior merge into a vague, indistinct, single space.

Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine

Green /

The natural factor completes the "dressing" of the project, and embodies the exterior spaces whether they are dry or wet.

Both on the front setback and back garden, climbing vines grow on dividing walls to balance the light with trees.This green accompanies and complements the lightness and dynamism that the project seeks.

Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
© Elias Martine


Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
Plan Level -1
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
Plan Levels 1 and 0
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Roof Plan


Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
Elevation 1
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Elevation 2


Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
Longitudinal Section 1
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Longitudinal Section 2
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Cross Section


Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
Perspective
Arquitectura Rifa Gen´08 House
Detail