Within the thick walls of an old mountain ranch, we designed a weekend home program surrounded by a river and mountains.
We envisioned building a flexible program under a large sloping roof that responds to new needs while coexisting with the inherited structure and the surrounding landscape.
The exercise of designing on top of the built environment to preserve its essence while proposing something new.
The project takes place in the town of San Antonio de Arredondo, a mountain village on the banks of the river that bears its name.
At the foot of the mountains, a summer town emerges, with its streets leading to the river and houses characteristic of a particular time and the mountain identity of Córdoba.
Located on Río Yuspe Street, two blocks from the San Antonio River, this house was built in the early 1970s. This small ranch, distinguished by its thick brick walls, whitewashed finish, and high gabled roof made of in-situ pre-stressed joist slabs, represents a construction technique of its time that we chose to preserve and enhance as part of the project’s identity.
The commission called for a weekend house designed for gathering and socializing.
With the aim of preserving the ranch’s identity, the project incorporates additional space to accommodate bedrooms and bathrooms. In this way, the social and private areas unfold in relation to these old white walls and sloping ceilings.
The proposal replaces the original uses of the inherited spaces while integrating them with the new interventions.
This results in a linear development that connects interior social spaces with exterior spaces through a large open gallery that extends along the length of the property. This gallery features a natural stone floor, carefully recovered and selected, culminating in a stepped terrace made of wooden sleepers that connects the garden, the pool, and the abundant existing vegetation.
The house expansion rises above a vacant area next to a pre-existing large tree, an old linden tree. In this section, a volume is inserted, serving as the entrance hall and housing a staircase within its walls, linking the different levels.
This staircase connects the entrance hall to the upper floor, where the main bedroom is located, complete with a private bathroom and a study-dressing room. The staircase then continues upward, leading to the rooftop terrace—a unique sanctuary to take in the mountains, the sky, and the stars.
The original construction featured thick solid brick walls with a whitewashed interior and exterior finish. The gabled roof, made of in-situ pre-stressed joist slabs, was left exposed in the social areas, defining their character.
The intervention respects this legacy, exploring both the architectural exercise and engineering involved in perforating the walls to create connections between the interior and the surrounding landscape. Additionally, a geometric composition approach was taken, experimenting with variations in window openings and closures.
Under the premise that the house should be fully open and exposed to the landscape, a series of folding metal shutters with small perforations was designed, allowing light to filter in.
To achieve this, an engineering system was developed to enable the complete opening of spaces. This closure system allows the house to be fully secured when unoccupied while also offering the possibility of being entirely open when in use.
