What happens if, instead of focusing on the form as solid, as construction and physicality, the attention is placed on the gap, on the form of the void that the matter itself leaves free, the absence gives meaning to the presence …By working on the sensation of being there, the aim is to give the viewer directly the option to continue and partially complete with his own human presence the void left by the apparent absence.
We are in a context in which cities are growing, expanding into the land around them, a world increasingly concerned about the future we are forging, generating permanent tensions, responses and exchanges between architecture and nature.
The need arises for design research to intervene in these sites with a low environmental impact, where simplicity, austerity and sensitivity forge an architecture that is integrally sustainable.
The project is based on the criteria of the Leed v4 certification, placing value on all the natural resources and materials available on the site, interacting with them in the decision-making process.
Casa Solar is a commission for a family who chose to live in an environment of high natural and landscape value. The house has a surface area of 250 m2 and is located in Villa Parque Siquiman (Córdoba, Argentina), on a plot of 1850m2.
The terrain consists of a natural ravine, 10 m deep, which acts as a drainage system for the entire surrounding area, channelling rainwater towards the San Roque Lake. The soil is rocky, interspersed with bushes and abundant mountain forest, which absorb part of the water that passes through the area. From the street, the views of the lake are very wide and change according to the time of the day and the year.
Natural resources and project
The house is positioned in the depth of the ravine, using the cavity to support the house and diminish its visual impact from the street, as well as to protect it. The existing humidity is used as a buffer for temperature differences, the vegetation of the forest acts as a double protective façade from the sun and wind, the visuals participate in the spaces of the house through reflections, different levels of play of light and shadow, solar energy is used in a controlled manner through a mobile roof and the adjoining house emerges as a complementary element of the whole.
Floating inclined box
A structural box of steel sections is inclined with the roof following the slope towards the lake, floating over the ravine and the water of the pools.
The 4.50m x 4.50m modular structure forms a total extension of 12.00m x 9.00m and 6.00m in height to contain social and rest areas. The steel box allows a cantilever of 3 m towards the park, so that the house seems to be in the air when seen from below, resting its columns on the existing rocks and on reinforced concrete partitions that form a transition base that contains the swimming pools and technical areas.
Accessibility and movement
From the street, one descends 3 m to the intermediate access level, where an esplanade/viewpoint brings one into contact with the landscape before entering the house on the blind side of the south façade. On entering the house, the contrast is total, as one comes into contact with the fluid and luminous interior social space open to the landscape.
The 2-way L-shaped layout envelops the empty, semi-covered space with its movable roof. The integrated social space with central island kitchen allows for multiple uses and seasonal adaptations in its indoor-outdoor relations. This intermediate level serves as a connector with the lower basement/pool/patio area, and with the upper rest and study area.
Climate, temperature, full and empty
The house is structured on the basis of an empty space measuring 4.50 m x 9.00 m, mobile, changing, and it is through this absence that a reflection is sought on the relationship between architecture and nature that is typical of our times. The empty space, lacking a solid volume, is expressed as a space of the possible, a lock that, by opening and closing, controls the sunlight, the climate, the use and the interior spatial conditions of the house.
This intermediate and interstitial space highlights the environmental and visual relationships with the natural surroundings, creating a structure that evolves with time, with life, with humanity and with architecture.
The void incorporates time and the contemporary energy of sustainable thinking by adding energy and thermal control of the interior space to the fluid and moving space-time in a simple but significant waycreating different atmospheres. The possibility of the roof to close by means of a motor, which is activated according to the temperature, completely in moments of full solar incidence, and to graduate according to the solar radiation necessary for the interior conditioning, both in winter (necessary insolation) and in summer (controlled insolation) produce a novel fact where the qualities of the interior and exterior space change according to the amount of solar energy necessary to produce comfort and energy saving.
Water cycle and health
Concern for water resources, which are scarce most of the year, and respect for the existing natural drainage in the ravine are taken into account, locating the house high off the ground to allow free runoff and permeability, nourishing the groundwater and the existing vegetation.
The pools underneath are filled with rainwater from the sloping roof and, being integrated into the house, provide humidity and warmth in winter and coolness in summer, as well as offering the possibility of a shaded bath in summer for skin care as direct solar radiation is controlled.
Finally, grey water is treated with a biodigester and reused for irrigation of the orchard and forest.
Local materials and resources
The decision to use simple, low-cost and locally produced materials leads to few materials that are easy to transport and lightweight and easy to assemble.
Towards the street, the house appears introverted, blind and austere to the south and west, with a vertical exterior envelope produced with dark wood-coloured fibre cement panels, of different thicknesses and widths interspersed, which diminish the visual impact of the block, together with the surrounding reflections produced by the satin finish. Only a rectangular opening to the outside containing a library breaks up the block.
In the interior, the use of tongue and groove elliotis pine wood as cladding is framed and ordered through the profiles of the exposed steel structure. This main structure is made from reused demolished steel sections.
Project: Casa Solar
Architectural firm: Pablo Senmartin Arquitectos.
Architects: Pablo Senmartin
Design Team: Laura García, Matías Museta, Sol Fuentes, Diego Soria, Milagros Suarez, Federico Miralles, Matías Lombardi, Ximena Cataño, Sabrina Roja.
Completion year: 2024
Built area: 250 m2
Location: Villa Parque Siquiman, Córdoba, Argentina
Photography: Andrés Dominguez. Federico Cairoli.
Structural engineering consultant: Eng. Enrique Senmartin.
Text: Pablo Senmartin Arquitectos.
Translation: Exágono.
Pablo Senmartin
Architect graduated from the National University of Cordoba (2005). Master in sustainable design and bioclimatic architecture from the University of Barcelona.
Since 2006 lecturer and researcher of the 2A architecture chair of the Faculty of Architecture and coordinator of works and projects of the UNC’s physical planning sub-secretariat. Coordinator of the integration project between UNC and ITU (Istanbul Technical University).
He has numerous publications and lectures on the works of the studio and on research carried out at the UNC. Group author of the project for the extension of the Faculty of Architecture of the UNC. Advisor and consultant for Banco Supervielle S.A.
Almost ten years of architectural experience in the residential and hotel sector, as well as individual and social housing projects as Project Architect at Pablo Senmartin & Partners Arquitectura Estudio.
“Interested in making architectural designs that are functional, safe and economical (LEED certification), really motivated to be part of a team that creates buildings that can last for decades and have a positive impact on people’s lives and the environment“.
Source: Pablo Senmartin Arquitectos.
Project by Pablo Senmartin
