Casa MR has been designed as a weekend getaway retreat by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos, located along the Buenos Aires coastline in Costa Esmeralda, Argentina. Completed in 2014, the 1,614 square foot (150 square meters) concrete, glass and wood structure offers plenty of natural light, low maintenance and spacious interiors.

From the architect: Against a backdrop of rugged dunes typical of the Buenos Aires coastline, with a beautiful landscape, we were commissioned to design a house, with the request for a program of regular needs for a weekend house and a limited budget. The proposal seeks to preserve the most of the wonderful qualities of the place.

The site, 20m wide by 50m deep, has the distinction of presenting a steep slope in the transverse direction, which is maintained throughout the length of the lot, showing a side at the same level of the access road and the opposite side 4 m high over the dune. This feature, along with the most vegetation concentrated on the upper area, was decisive for the location of the building. Seeking to not change in the least the original topography, we decided to split the program into two simple volumes, crossing one over the other at right angles so that the lower volume, more elongated, rests longitudinally on the lower area, whereas the upper volume is transversely supported on high ground, and its opposite end overhangs to generate the access under it.

The lower volume in contact with the ground houses the social areas of the house and a guest room at one end, and the upper volume has two bedrooms for the family, the slope is also used to generate privacy turning all expansions to the outside to the side where the dune climbs, on the contrary, the opposite side is protected by a filter made of a series of rustic quebracho wood planks placed vertically with a carefully studied separation to generate privacy and a protective shadow in the afternoon.

The construction rests on the noble qualities of concrete, in contrast to the expression of the quebracho wood, dark aluminum and glass.

Photos: Daniela Mac Adden