Excerpt: AYYA House by Estudio Galera is materialized by two apparently monolithic containers that are overlapped, crossed, and rested on a platform. Lifted above the average lot level, the residence dominates the environment and accentuates its observatory nature. The crossed boxes guarantee different views from the two plans: down to the west and up to the north, and they ensure good sunlight in all the rooms.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] A flat lot located in a gated community in Pinamar opens as a fan from east to west, from the front street to the rear façade. Some young pines act as a gentle filter between the lot, the neighbours, and the fields of General Madariaga—at the other side of Provincial Route 11. These comprised the first project data for a vacation home that would offer ample spaces to gather and converse, bearing in mind that, on vacations, spaces are used more placidly, the senses are awake, and the contemplation of the surroundings becomes a rewarding experience.
Two apparently monolithic containers are overlapped, crossed, and rested on a platform to materialize the house. Lifted above the average lot level, AYYA dominates the environment and accentuates its observatory nature. The crossed boxes guarantee different views from the two plans: down to the west and up to the north, and they ensure good sunlight in all the rooms.
The project promotes and understands the need for social gatherings. AYYA is consequently arranged around a patio, a terrace, and a pool, which, like a water mirror, multiplies the effects of the sunlight.
On the ground floor, the residence closes to the front so as to keep the residents’ privacy, silencing the distinctive noises of the neighbourhood and reinforcing the decision to open it to the west. The boundaries of the house disappear through the full opening of the fenestrations, which generates large mixed spaces where ‘the inside’ and ‘the outside’ melt away and increase the apparent size of the house.
The slab breaks away over the living-dining room and constrains, as a funnel, the transition between the inside and the outside. As in a game of opposites, the containers, roof slab, and walls also act as a boundary for the residence, as they are appreciated from the distant field. Over the kitchen and on its exit, the space ‘carves’ the concrete box.
The beam frees the living room from any vertical elements (columns) at the time that it expands the terrace. The cantilevered beam crowns a hammock that hangs from it. The empowerment of this element—apart from the play on compositions—highlights the vacation spirit: the gratification found in playing and contemplating the environment.
On the upper floor, a wagon that nestles the playroom and the bedrooms overhangs the platform to the rear façade, offering shade for outdoor activities. The wagon stretches to the front as if trying to blend with the neighbourhood—which does not happen on the ground floor—while it seems to fly over the access plan due to the lack of supports. This solid cantilever produces strangeness and melts with the trees, extending the house into the landscape.
Slightly down, another cantilever takes the shape of a pergola and connects with the first one while giving scale to the outside: a sublimely carved plan that ‘stretches’ to the street, projecting shadows. From a functional standpoint, it works as a solar shield for the vehicles.
The passage of time and the course of the sun enrich the space and the sensory experience. The pergolas and the carved concrete filter the sunlight and cast shadows, which horizontally and vertically travel along the surfaces.
The rooms are identified by their size; they are neutral and are not coated. These spaces were not ‘labelled’ in order to give the owner flexibility of use. The marks of the formwork and its supervised imperfection are taken as accomplishments: structure, colour, and texture fuse, highlighting AYYA’s character.
All the materials were selected to keep house maintenance to a minimum, bearing in mind that the effects that the climate has on them are a continuation of the building process. The interior of the concrete walls was fully filled with expanded polystyrene sheets, which were placed and adjusted during the formwork process since the concrete was all poured at once.
The materials show what they are, as they do not have surface finishes. They remain—as well as the building process—directly and permanently present in the construction.
The non-artifice reinforced concrete overhangs the terrain and rests upon a platform, contrasting with the typical house of the neighbourhood and portraying itself as strong and radical as the countryside. The residence is transformed into an auditorium where one can contemplate each sunset. This might be its biggest virtue: to capture the spirit of the countryside, where every afternoon the sun goes down.
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