A glass and concrete project by the Argentinian practice is intended as a ‘metaphysical home’
Argentinian practice Estudio Botteri Connell has completed a 275 sq m residential project called HS House in City Bell, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Organised around a central water courtyard, the minimal house focuses on the calm, transparent, reflective qualities of still water.
The house was created for a family and comprises three bedrooms in addition to an open-plan living room/kitchen, bathroom and garage. Estudio Botteri Connell collaborated closely with the family and aimed to incorporate their ‘dreams, desires, projections and memories’ into the design approach, explains architect Agustin Ichuribehere. The practice was also inspired by both Arabic and Japanese architecture for their common themes of interior patios, the handling of light and the sense of water.
The loadbearing structure of the house is made of concrete, finished with wooden formwork and the floors are poured concrete. The curtain walls overlooking the central courtyard are floor-to-ceiling channel glass with a turquoise hue and translucent quality, creating the effect for those inside that the house is underwater. Ichuribehere explains the use of materials – glass, water and concrete – ‘allowed us to materialise a metaphysical dwelling, where the reflected world prevails and reality is often confused with the dream.’
The house is accessed via a glass path cutting across the water courtyard, which is filled with submerged stones. Almost ritualistic, this is intended to immediately instil calm in residents and visitors before the house is even entered.
Based in La Plata, Argentina, Estudio Botteri Connell is a residential-focused architecture practice established in 2010 by husband and wife Patricio Connell and Sofia Botteri Cappa.
All photographs by Agustin Ichuribehere
