Location: El Salvaje, Villa Gesell, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Project Design: Arch. María Victoria Besonías, Arch. Guillermo de Almeida
Collaborators: Arch. Micaela Salibe, Arch. Candela Barrios, Hernán de Almeida
Land Area: 2500 sqm
Built Area: 128 sqm
Construction Year: 2023
Photos: Hernán de Almeida
MEMORY
El Salvaje is located at km 427 of Provincial Route N° 11, 10 km south of Villa Gesell and only 3 km from Mar Azul forest. It is a development of maritime farms, environmentally sustainable both for its low population density and for the conditions established by its regulations in relation to the environmental care. The legislation determines that all developments must respect the topography, vegetation and wildlife of the area: a geography where the horizontality of the Pampean plain is cut by the presence of sandy ridges, fixed by grasslands, which run perpendicular to the coast until they disappear in huge beaches.
This territory is exposed to strong winds most of the year and, not having suffered alterations in its ecosystem to dampen them – such as pine plantations, so common on this coast -, it withstands gusts that, on occasions, reach 100 km/h.
This vast, homogeneous landscape, swept by strong winds, exposed to the harsh rays of the sun, almost uninhabited, which invites us to enjoy the silence and amazing sunsets, was the one chosen by the client to commission us the project of a small summer house with a generous swimming pool. And it was also the one that allowed us to develop an interesting experience by recognizing it as the main trigger of the proposal.
The first project decision was to locate the house in the highest area of the lot in order to fully enjoy the landscape admired by the owner. We established a route from the street through a pergola and a staircase that, ascending the dune, allows access to two platforms at different heights: one that connects to the pool area, and the other that defines the development plan of the entire house and its expansion into a generous gallery.
Once located on this level that dominates the landscape, it was necessary to protect the house from the strong winds from the SE and N -sometimes so strong that the sand whips the glass and grinds it down.
We then proposed a volume that retreats into an inner courtyard, is protected from the strong winds and the intense summer sun by screens made of adjustable wooden boards on three sides, and opens completely to the landscape on the side exposed to the best orientation.
This courtyard is the organizing space of the house. Interspersed between the sector that houses the social activities and the more intimate two bedrooms with their private bathrooms, it can function as an expansion of these ambiences on windy days and as a connection to the upper terrace on calm days. On the other hand, the light that bathes it produces ever-changing shadows that, combined with the different reflections produced by the glass box that surrounds it, create a spatial situation of great interest. At the same time, on hot summer days, the introduction of this courtyard, the position of the openings and the creation of a deep gallery along the entire social sector of the house make it possible for a current of air to run through all the rooms, cooling them, and for all the activities of the house to relate to each other and to the outside.
From the gallery and also from the upper terrace you can enjoy views of the swimming pool immersed in the soft sand dunes and the ever-changing display of sunsets.
At night the house preserves its intimacy thanks to the wooden filters and, as a surprise result, the light that filters through them illuminates the immediate surroundings producing varied effects of light and shadow.
