Córdoba-based architecture practice Barq's taller de arquitectura has completed a brick house with refined volumes in Córdoba, Argentina. 

Called House - Workshop, the 149-square-metre building is located on the outskirts of the city of Alta Gracia, in a lot that is characterized by the care of the native forest. 

"As architects, making our own home is still a challenge, in a process of constant transformation."

At the heart of the lot are two great Talas who were the inspiring muses of the project. The preservation of as many trees as possible and that the house - workshop was permeated by that geography. For this, the house was arranged in the center of the lot, freeing the corner and austere materials, concrete and exposed brick were used in refined volumes.

The implantation arises from these characteristics and is planned in the shape of an L, a pavilion that corresponds to the house facing north and another pavilion adjoining the street, which is the study and workshop. Both volumes are linked through the garage and embrace the patio generating a space of containment and privacy, inspired by the cloister typology. 

The house has an internal patio, where trees were also kept, which separates the public area (kitchen, living room, dining room) from the private area (bedroom). 

At the same time it is around a glazed corridor allowing a connection between both gardens, thus eliminating the exterior - interior visual limits. 

The available resources were limited, so a house of minimal dimensions but with great breadth in height was thought. Both the height and brightness of the interior patio create a wide space. The work space that we call a workshop was an important requirement, as well as the living space, separating work from domestic life. It has double entry, from the street as from the garage. The volume closes towards the street and opens with a glazed plane towards the interior, providing luminosity and a view of the existing grove.

The garage is open, it functions as a pivoting element between the two volumes and contains an expansion of brick floor, a meeting space guarded by the shadow of a chañar. Which implied that the design of the roof of the garage was drilled to make way for this highly prized native tree. 

There the magic of encounters and sharing happens. The trees are our gallery, they allow us the sun in winter and the shade in summer, generating a peaceful atmosphere.

The use of materials accompanies the idea of austerity, economy of resources and local materials. It was built with a double exposed brick wall, also showing the interior, and concrete, present in a lower beam as a plinth and an upper beam. 

The entrance gate is made of sheet metal and copies the pattern of the brick, generating a play of light and shadow. The rest, aluminum carpentry and dvh glass, concrete on the workshop floor, wood in the house.

As Peter Eisenman mentions, “the architecture we remember is the one that never comforts us or conforms us”, thus we continue to mutate and transform our home along with the environment.

Roof plan

Floor plan

Sections

Elevations

Project facts

Project Name: House - Workshop

Architecture Office: Barq's architecture workshop

Country of Office: Argentina 

Construction completion year: 2016

Built area: 149m2

Location: Alta Gracia, Cordoba, Argentina

Architects In Charge: Arch. Astesano Cristina - Arch. Pablo Bisio

Design Team: Arch. Astesano Cristina - Arch. Pablo Bisio

All images © Gonzalo Viramonte

All drawings © Barq's architecture workshop

> via Barq's architecture workshop