Castaños House

A concrete and glass house designed with open spaces and an interior courtyard.

Located a short drive away from Buenos Aires, this three-bedroom home boasts a brutalist-inspired design. Architects Ekaterina Künzel and María Belén García Bottazzini collaborated to complete Castanos House, a home for Bottazzini and her partner. The raw concrete and glass volume features a semi-closed facade towards the surrounding houses and an open side towards the garden with a pool. Designed like a cantilevered volume, the upper floor stands on four concrete pillars.

On the ground floor, open and semi-covered areas give a light feel to the design. The dwelling boasts three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, lounge, and a semi-covered garage. A central courtyard brings more natural light to the heart of the house while shielding the social areas from the road and providing the perfect solution to welcome nature into the living spaces. At the same time, the clever distribution of the open areas preserves the shelter-like design of the concrete home. The courtyard features a glass volume on one side and an area with a grill on the other.

The material palette of the exterior of exposed concrete, glass, and black metal continues on the ground floor. The open-plan living room, dining room with comfortable lounge chairs, and kitchen boast concrete flooring and ceilings as well as glazed walls or glass sliding doors. Other openings flood this space with natural light while maintaining the privacy from the surrounding houses. By contrast, the bedrooms have more traditional materials, including warm wooden flooring and white walls. The master bedroom also has access to a private terrace.

In terms of sustainability, the architects designed the house with thermal insulation and cross ventilation for effective cooling and air circulation. They also planted jacaranda trees that will offer shade in the summer and surrounded the pool with vegetation. Photographs© Daniela Mac Adden.