Bárbara Berson and Horacio Sardin They reinterpreted the vernacular housing of the delta Buenos Aires with a new geometry. Like a dragonfly, it delicately places its long legs in a willow forest while its body rises to protect itself from the floodwaters of the Paraná.
The architects propose three ways of living: a house at the level of the natural terrain (full shade), another intermediate one with the interior environments (controlled light) and a higher one to see the sky and the trees (full light). The intermediate level is where people live daily.
The house is made up of three bodies covered with burnt wooden boards which are articulated through a glazed hall. The largest houses the public area with the living room, dining room and kitchen; while the other two volumes contain the private areas with the bedrooms.
Casa Libélula was assembled from a set of assembled wooden pieces. “The three bodies that make up the house emerge in a cantilever of the wooden supporting structure seeming to float in the void. The upper ceilings, as well as the carpentry of the fronts, are ejected into the space and all the structural wooden pieces protrude at each meeting, at each intersection,” the authors explain.
The extremes of the three bodies they dematerialize at their outer edges, provided with spatial carpentry that adds front, sides and cover. Thus, its inhabitants feel as if they were “in a ship that advances towards the surrounding natural landscape with panoramic views. The connection with wild nature is complete and, by enveloping us, makes us feel in an intense dialogue with it,” they add.
stilt house
And ascending and descending platform system It makes up the dynamic landscape that runs through the house. The first is the dock, the gateway to the universe of the house.
And camino diagonal It runs through the house and connects it with canals on both fronts. “The slanted entrances generate foreshortened visions of the house that mutate from the zigzag ascent demarcated by the wooden platforms,” they say.
At the main entrance, a square board larger size generates a meeting instance with visitors that represents a level of limited income.
On the subsequent path, a square platform It represents the place of maximum intimacy, a place for family gatherings and meetings with friends, where the fireplace is housed.
The three shade roofs are part of this platform system. In this case, they float above the house and become viewpoints towards the landscape.
To resolve the instability of the soil and prevent subsidence, a greater number of columns than in traditional structural systems. Thus, the load was distributed over a greater number of points. The columns combine vertical and diagonal pieces that manage to sit optimally on the ground taking lateral forces.
For the bases, pits with sand contained in recycled geotextile membrane bags to generate a more stable soil. From this new surface, a horizontal quebracho sleeper and the columns were placed on top of it.
The supporting structure of the house is located on the outside of the built boxes, in this way thermal bridges are avoided. The structure of columns and beams served as a scaffold during the work process. Only light metal rods articulate both entities. The volumes of burned wood that make up the house seem to float, emerging in a cantilever at all ends.
Sustainable dragonfly
Multilayer walls and supporting structure free-standing that prevents thermal bridges, and the carpentry with hermetic double glazing, generates a great insulation. Cross air currents and conversion into a gallery house are possible thanks to the ejection of all the carpentry outward.
The four of them glazed ends of the house become winter gardenscapturing heat thanks to the greenhouse effect, adapting the home for the cold season.
And Ceiling of wooden planking flies over the house projecting sombra over the entire roof and protecting the home from direct solar incidence. At the same time, it becomes terrace-viewpoint at the height of the treetops, providing 360° panoramic views of the forest, canals and sky.
Las wood burning fireplaces They heat the rooms and the water is heated with solar energy.
In the vertical envelopes of the house the technique of wood burning to avoid future maintenance. The use of synthetic paints and varnishes has been avoided. The entire structure and wooden decks are untreated, allowing them to be oxidation.
The architects also took care of the furniture. “Everything is built with the same wood: the arrival dock, the paths, the house, the tables, the chairs, the beds, the towel hangers. Each shelf or light table is part of the general composition,” they point out about the house that, with its cross currents of air and the shade of the trees, is an optimal refuge to escape the Buenos Aires summer.