Project: BT Tropical House
Architects: Estudio Jorgelina Tortorici Arq.
Location: Adrogue, Argentina
Area: 411.0 m2
Year 2017
Photo Credits: Alejandro Peral
This 450m2 house is located in a corner lot, in a closed neighborhood of the city of Adrogué, in Buenos Aires. In the form of an “L” the house embraces the central garden from the outside towards the inside. To one side, an almost blind façade of rough concrete, in relation to the main access street of the neighborhood, closes to the traffic and to the exterior views. Towards the other street, a cul-de-sac, almost without traffic or neighbors, the facade becomes more transparent and permeable. The interior-exterior continuity, a subject that we wanted to focus on, was achieved through facades that open, slide or are perforated generating different filters that sift the light, control the visuals and give different depths and movement to this house.
The arrival at a BT Tropical House is always an opportunity to “celebrate the access”. In this case, with two “tropical” courtyards, a hall is caught between these two gaps articulating as well as separating the living area from the sleeping area. Both provide light and vegetation, freshness … melting the interior space with the exterior. The sleeping area required to sit on an almost blind block, in direct contact with the land, at level. A metal “skin” made out of microperforated sheet metal shutters serve as sun protection while closing the entire facade as a security system. In the daily use area – the living quarters area – the house raises half a level to bury the service area, garage, and gain longer visuals towards the garden. In this way, the site slopes down and away from this part of the house towards a pool and terraced gardens.
Noble materials, with their own texture and color, their own brightness, transparency, give a neutral palette that accompanies all the custom-designed furnishings created entirely by the firm. An independent reinforced concrete structure combined with metal columns, is the perfect ally to separate the structure from the enclosures and achieve the large overhang that covers the gallery blurring the line that separates the living-dining room from the outside, offering a smooth continuity towards the garden.
