Textural Concrete Home Overlooks its Own Private Lagoon

sorchaohiggins — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 07:00:49 +0000

A new concrete home just outside the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires is offering a contemporary take on country living. Situated in one of the gated communities common to the upper-class areas outside the city, the FSY House was designed by local firm Remy Arquitectos, a group that works across the residential, commercial, and restorational sectors and has already completed a number of high-profile projects in Argentina. The clients for this project were a couple who gave the architects the brief of creating a house that provided their family with enough space to comfortably spend the weekend in and where they could entertain and host their children and grandchildren.

The house has a privileged vista within a luxurious compound, which itself boasts a private golf course and lagoon. Externally, the overall composition of the home appears as a set of staggered concrete volumes, and its front facade is stretched across a landscaped patio laid with travertine paving slabs, which contrast the vegetation planted near the entrance. The board-marked concrete planes are offset by dark metal panels that define some of the interior spaces. These panels are either solid or in the form of slender fins, depending on whether the internal space they’re covering is supposed to be more private or public.

Once inside the house, its material palette sees the addition of lapacho wood on the floor and ceilings, which adds a sense of warmth and familiarity to all the spaces. Some walls are finished in a clean white coat, which in turn are juxtaposed with feature walls made of sculptural concrete. The rooms are organized around a double-height space, which acts as a sort of orientational axis by helping people discern which parts of the house lie where in relation to a central core. The stairs are constructed on a black metal frame, boasting travertine steps and glazed panels of balustrading and creating a sense of transparency throughout the home’s circulation routes.

Panels of lapacho wood also conceal the entrance to a spa area, which houses a pool surrounded by a relaxation space. The spa has been treated in darker tones and hues than those found elsewhere in the home to create a subdued atmosphere conducive to rest and relaxation.

At the rear of the property, the home’s common areas, such as the living and dining rooms, overlook the lagoon, opening out visually thanks to some generous fenestration and a set of sliding doors that create a transitional effect when open. As is the case in many Argentine country houses, the external areas for entertianing and barbecuing become central to the activity of the house, and a covered grill allows whoever is manning the barbeque to freely engage with their guests. There are three guest bedrooms and one master bedroom in the house, all of which have been finished with minimal decoration and high-quality furniture (as is the rest of the building). At the very top of the property is a rooftop terrace, which affords some stunning 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape.

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Modern Play Space Full of Swings, Tents and Hammocks

Stephanie Rogers — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 18:00:19 +0000

A series of tiny wooden houses within a larger structure make up a bright, wood-lined modern play space for kids and adults alike in Buenos Aires. Fiii Fun House by Iris Cantante Arquitectos is a cafe offering ‘fun houses’ filled with swings, tents, hammocks and communal tables as well as more conventional cafe seating.

Intended to inspire creativity and spontaneity, the design creates cool spaces for kids to hang out without relying on primary colors, plastic or any of the other visuals typically associated with such spaces.

Suspended from the ceiling, the simple wooden swings around the coloring table encourage kids to relax and think in a more imaginative way. The nearby hammocks provide a quieter, more private space for reading, napping or daydreaming.

Glassed-in gaps in the gabled roofs of the mini houses let natural light come streaming in from the building’s glazed front wall. The children’s area is fenced off with spaced wooden poles so adults lounging in the adjacent dining area can keep an eye on things.

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“Mariela Vergagni and Diego Cores, parents of 2 curious children who love to walk, felt that a new restaurant/cafe concept was missing in the city. A place where both adults and children could enjoy, relax and have fun at the same time, feeling included. The challenge was to ensure that all these desires could coexist together and in harmony. I imagined it as a welcoming, fun place with an atmosphere that transmitted joy and calm, but that was playful and at the same time elegant and comfortable.”

“Fiii Fun House is a Café, Restaurant, play area for babies and children and a party room in which both children and adults feel integrated. We gave great importance to the design of each element of the furniture, to the choice of each toy to materialize a unique space. A place where parents could be comfortable, relax (while their children are cared for and entertained) and enjoy design, while their children enjoy more traditional and group games that stimulate their imagination and sociability (away from technology). and individualities that mark the current trend).”

The post Modern Play Space Full of Swings, Tents and Hammocks first appeared on Dornob.

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Textural Concrete Home Overlooks its Own Private Lagoon

Modern Play Space Full of Swings, Tents and Hammocks

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