House in La Lucila is a family house that combines the needs of housing itself, plus the requirements of a working space.
The key in this project is the siting. Placing the building towards the back of the plot and lifting it to a first level allows, on one hand, to get intimacy from the public street and on the other, to be able to enjoy the treetops that surround the area. Pushing the volume backwards as much as possible allows the house to overlook a wide-open garden, which visually extends much further than the actual plot boundaries.

The house takes the maximum height allowed by the Building Code and presents a terrace with a swimming pool on the last level, to take advantage of the open view of the heavily wooded area and the proximity to the Rio de la Plata.

The program organization is straightforward: towards the back of the house are the service areas and to the front, the main rooms. An element made out of wood planks positioned vertically features as a dividing system. The physical division between the service area and the served area is materialized in this completely permeable feature
and an interior glass façade, which adopts different levels of opacity according to the program’s needs. In consequence, it helps to set the limit between spaces and allows an abundant penetration of daylight. Besides, it adopts diverse uses depending on which room and program it responds to: near the working area it is used as a library, in the kitchen it becomes a cabinet, in the bedrooms it is used as support furniture and in the terrace it acts as a protective screen from the sun’s rays.

The constructive system chosen was reinforced concrete because of its plastic capacity, which enables us to create a lean structure and to position the pool on the last floor. The white color was chosen to ensure an atmosphere full of light and brightness.