Located straight on the Argentinian beach, this bare concrete three storey house appears like a modern sculpture growing out of the sand. Although situated on the beach, the house is not isolated, as another house of quite imposing size was built just on the neighboring plot, clogging the view on one side. This neighboring house, together with the shape and orientation of the plot, have conditioned a lot the design of the house to be built. The owners also came with their very specific brief, so BAK architects had many elements to keep into account when drawing the plans. The main material, concrete, was an a priori, as the owners wanted a low maintenance house and they liked the other concrete houses the architects had built in the beach area. Given the singularity of the site, another a priori was that the house needed to be elevated over the natural line of the ground in order to gain sea views. The requirements in terms of rooms were an open plan kitchen-dining-living room, two bedrooms with a shared bathroom for the children, a guest bedroom with separate bathroom, a master bedroom with en suite bathroom, storage space and a semi covered garage. Given the topography, the architects tried to gain views without having to impact a lot on the dune. Thus, in spite of being exposed to strong winds and rain, the south-eastern side of the house needed to have big openings in order to get sea views. The final design is organized on three levels, each floor having a different shape, size and orientation.
The structure is made in reinforced concrete, which allows the floors to cantilever one over another and to have big overhangs. The first floor is partly excavated into the dune, and it consists of the garage, the storage and technical spaces, plus the guest bedroom and bathroom.
From the bottom floor the stairs go up between two concrete walls into the living room. The flight of stairs going up to the top floor is open on both sides and only protected by light stainless steel balustrades.
The middle floor is divided into a day side with an open plan kitchen and living room, and a night side consisting of the children’s two bedrooms and shared bathroom.
The kitchen is organized in two modules, one set against the wall and an island in front of it. The frames of the modules and the counter tops are in concrete and the doors of the cupboards are in wood in glass.
In front of the island and perpendicular on it there is the bench style dining table, made in concrete like a lot of the furniture in the house. The top of the table is protected by a sheet of glass.
In the opposite corner of the open space there is the living room, with wooden sofas covered by white cushions and pillows. The fireplace is integrated in a concrete console structure with shelves.
The whole floor is flooded by light through big glazed doors and windows. The dining area opens up on a wooden deck.
The children’s bedrooms are located on the same floor, but separated from the living area by the kitchen wall.
The top floor is occupied by the master bedroom and its en suite bathroom. The facade overlooking the sea is completely glazed and it gives access on a big decked terrace, with great views. As the terrace has no balustrade, it gives the feeling of having climbed to a hilltop in order to admire the views.
The bedroom is furnished in a minimal style, with a simple bed and an open concrete structure that serves as wardrobe, with shelves and a clothes rod.
