Project: Mazzini Retreat
Architects: iHouse estudio
Lead Architects: Andrés García, Marcelo Mederos
Location: Punta del Este, Uruguay
Area: 969 ft²
Year: 2021
Photographs: Aldo Lanzi
The main idea begins with the client’s initiative to live immersed in the forest, always in direct contact with the surroundings. The first approach was based on mid-century houses, this was an important starting point for the main concept of the house, trying to reinterpret single-family houses.
The idea is that being inside the house, you feel that you are outside, in the woods. To make this, two blocks exempt from the permit are placed into the house, which articulates the main spaces and breaks the limit with the outside, diluting it with two parallel openings that make a completely flexible space.
Continuing with this logic, the house is a single circulation, there are no limits between the different spaces. It tries to interpret the forest, letting the user move freely unobstructed. The Mazzini Retreat is a single through space, interpreting the logic of the terrain and becoming part of the exterior route, giving the sensation of moving among the trees at all times.
The land is located between two streets with variable heights, showing a marked topographical difference, so the house adapts to the terrain aligning itself to the upper street. A continuation of the upper level is proposed by placing two horizontal planes as part of the land, generating a habitable platform where housing will be developed. Responding to the public streets, two walls are placed to contain the living space and give privacy to the bedrooms.
Immersed in the forest full of vegetation, the house appears by surprise camouflaged in the environment. It separates the services from the rest of the house, the inside blocks contain bathrooms, kitchen and closets, freeing the rest of the spaces to accentuate the contact with the outside. The forest is framed at all times to never lose sight of it.
