Text description provided by the architects. The Chacarita neighborhood in the City of Buenos Aires, of medium-low scale, is where the project unfolds. The lot is located in the middle of the block, with only two houses on it, no tall buildings in the block, many gardens, and guaranteed air, sky, and greenery.
Access is through a patio, originally covered and with an awning, but one of the first tasks was to dismantle it. The house is developed over three levels, maintaining the scale and slabs of the original structure, on a lot that measures almost 9.00 x 8.00 m.
Structurally, few but fundamental decisions were made to materialize the spatial premises required by the project: to incorporate the exterior into each new space, visually extending each area to the limits of the lot, not to its enclosure; to expose the original structure of the vaulted slabs, even with the scars of the old load-bearing walls; to place the social program on the upper floor, generating a patio and a new terrace, this time an extensive green one, over the pre-existing one.
Only a single gray profile column of 160 and three IPN of 160 were the only elements that replaced the heavy 30 cm walls that supported the load of the existing slabs. In the lower height spaces, the slabs were painted white, and in the higher ones, they were left with exposed brick, painting only the profiles. The walls were replaced by PVC and double-glazed windows, all from floor to ceiling, incorporating the surfaces of the two original galleries into the interior of the house.
In the ground floor bedroom and living room, large sliding windows were designed to blur the interior-exterior boundary and allow for integrated use. In the rest of the house, fixed panels and oscillating-opening windows were proposed.
The native vegetation and that of the surroundings provide color to the chosen white base for the container box. Only one wall painted a dark color adds depth to the patio and accompanies a finishing touch.
The placement in the heart of the block provides protection, allowing the house to be open and in constant contact with the outside. Even in the shower area, where a skylight was designed to receive zenithal light and see the sky.
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Cite: “PH Charlone House / Florentina Fontana Arq. + Asociados” [PH Charlone / Florentina Fontana Arq. + Asociados] 05 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed .
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