Rosario, Argentina | View House | Johnston MarkLee & Diego Arraigada Arquitecto

[JVS]

View House, Argentina

Architecture

From the images, one might think that the View House is set adrift in its own sprawling private wilderness, a piece of sculptural beauty set far from civilisation.

In fact, the plot of land is part of a large development, the Kentucky Club de Campo, a golf-centric suburb on the outskirts of Rosario, Argentina. Here, generous building plots have been doled out to aspiring suburbanites, with the nearby links intended as bait.

The View House is different. For a start, it dispenses with any notion of conventional form. Instead, the total absence of pitched roofs and vernacular cues has resulted in a sculptural concrete form that appears to grow out of the flat landscape.

Designed by Mark Lee of Los Angeles-based Johnston Marklee Architects and Diego Arraigada of Diego Arraigada Arquitecto, based in Rosario, the finished result is a generous 300 square metre home.

The intention was to maximize the relationship with the terrain, and to achieve this the curved façade is punctuated by a series of generous windows, deeply recessed to provide solar shading and a place to sit. Carefully sited so as to create views that are unsullied by neighbouring houses, the scale of the windows is also deceptive, effectively shrinking the perception of the house's overall size.

Inside, the aesthetic shifts and the space literally opens up. Thanks to white plastered walls, elegantly formed to accommodate curving walls and ceilings, and multiple levels, the interior is a labyrinth of vistas, slopes and unexpected reveals, all the way up to a roof deck. It's also smooth, cool and calm, in stark contrast to the rough concrete texture of the exterior.

The architects arrived at the final form by interpreting local planning demands their own way, dismissing the conventions of front and back to create an object that is read in the round, a piece of simple geometry intersected by basic forms. Not only has the house created an enhanced environment for the owners, but arguably improved its neighbours's views. Few structures are so aptly named.

3 December 2009 | Architecture

in http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/interactive-floorplan-view-house-argentina/4129


View House by Johnston Marklee and Diego Arraigada Arquitecto, Argentina29Sep09

Here are some pictures of a house, called ‘View House’ located in Rosario, Argentina and designed by American practice Johnston Marklee and Argentinian practice Diego Arraigada Arquitecto. The design aims to allow the occupant to enjoy as much as can from the surrounding views on all sides of the house without loosing some privacy. Interesting about the interior is a spiraling staircase that leads to the roof as you can see on the pictures below by Gustavo Frittegotto.

Some text from the architects:

The View House is designed under conditions generated by both the potential and limitations of large suburban developments. Situated near Rosario on the vast landscape of the Argentine plains, the 3200 sq foot house occupies a 22,750 sq foot parcel.

The design is driven by two conflicting desires: engaging the living experience of the house with the views of the surrounding landscape and preserving privacy from neighboors. Planning demands and the unique position of the peripheral corner lot demanded a specific approach to the massing of the house and its engagement with the landscape. A compact massing strategy with a minimal footprint liberates and preserves the ground, defining a two story structure.

By denying the traditional front, side, and rear yard designations, and instead intensifying the facade as a surface that continuously modulates the relationship of interior to exterior, the perception of the house unfolds through a sequence of oblique views where every surface of façade becomes primary. The formal and tectonic complexity of the house results from the repetition of four basic geometric subtractions from a primitive mass that create a dynamic exterior shape perceived simultaneously as embedded and lofted, cantilevered and slumped.

In the interior, these operations define a continuous and modulated space that spirals upwards from the ground level to the roof terrace in a sequence of living areas. The four geometric subtractions have differentiated volumetric impressions on the inside of the house, each of which, together with a contiguous aperture, results in an interior landscape of paired surfaces, views, and lighting effects.

The rotational strategy for the apertures results from the framing of desirable landscape features, the anticipation of neighboring developments and the choreography of internal circulation. The reduction of electric and HVAC demands by facilitating cross ventilation and natural light have also been taken into consideration. Varying in height, orientation, and depth, each framed opening captures a distinct view, providing alternating relationships between interior and exterior. The layering of subtractions and apertures also relates to the tectonic demands of the overall concrete shell. As a culmination of the internal circulation along a path of 360º, a flight of steps leads up to a panoramic roof deck, from which the expansive surrounding landscape can be perceived from a new height.

The rough concrete shell of the house was built using traditional local techniques and its form and finish retain the impression of the means and methods of its construction. In contrast, the interior of the house is smooth and polished in nature. Lightly hued terrazzo floors on the first floor are distinguished from the smooth plaster walls only by a degree of reflectivity and polish. The black window frames punctuate the views and define a contrast with the white interior atmosphere. In more intimate, private spaces, Lapacho wood covers the floors creating a new contrast with the walls and ceilings.

Photos by Gustavo Frittegotto

in http://archide.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/view-house-by-johnston-marklee-and-diego-arraigada-arquitecto-argentina/

[JVS]

Location: Rosario, Argentina
Architects: Johnston MarkLee & Diego Arraigada Arquitecto
Principals-in-Charge: Mark Lee, Diego Arraigada
Project Architect: Sharon Johnston AIA
Project Team: Juliana Esposito, Jeff Adams, Pablo Gamba, Nazarena Infante, Nadia Carassai, Anne Rosenberg, Anton Schneider
Project: 2004-2005
Construction: 2006-2009
Site Area: 2113 m2
Interior Area: 297 m2
Total Built Area: 361 m2
Developer: Lucas Ma (President, Markee LLC)
Structural Engineer: Ing Gonzalo Garibay
General Contractor: MECSA, Ing Gustavo Micheletti
Materials: Exposed Concrete, Anodized Aluminum, Plaster, Polished concrete, Polished Terrazzo, Lapacho Hardwood
Photographs: Gustavo Frittegotto

in http://www.archdaily.com/35398/view-house-johnston-marklee-diego-arraigada-arquitecto/