Casa Legarreta / IN Estudio Arquitectura

Casa Legarreta / IN Estudio Arquitectura

+ 40

Text description provided by the architects. The house is located 30 km from the city of Mendoza. In La Crucesita, the town of Las Compuertas is at the foot of the first hills of the foothills. Topography and vegetation activate the site in such a way that new soil emerges above the rugged terrain and native vegetation. The platform forms the tectonic basement in the form of a raised terrace. The layout is oriented on the steep slopes in a south-north direction and on the 16m long by 4m wide base rises the stereotomic hangar delimited by the radiating slab.

Three other elements make up materialization. The first is a metal structure that gives way to an open-air terrace and covered side galleries. Collaborating with the structural configuration, a stone clad concrete wall supports the east side and provides space for fixtures and fittings. The second component is a light, systematic and prefabricated system adapted to the structure. It is composed of opaque enclosures made of preformed phenolic panels with a polyurethane core, covered on the outside with a smooth steel sheet. In addition, aluminum carpentry enclosures like large windows that open to the best views and orientations. The latter offers transparency and great interior luminosity as well as the use of solar radiation in winter.

The fourth element is the hearth or chimney which fulfills the various functions of cooking, heating and sheltering the social assembly by the fireside. Like a country cabin required by efficiency and durability, the material structure and the formal organization are reduced to the optimum and the necessary. In such a way that the interior and exterior space form an environment of various and spontaneous uses reduced to equipment and accessories, extremely linked to the natural and experiential experience of the place.