Casa Mar Azul | BAK Arquitectos

This small house is located near Mar Azul, a coastal village south of Buenos Aires. It was placed among a grove of pine trees, with holes incorporated into the deck and roof overhang to accommodate the existing trees. The goal for BAK Arquitectos was to design a low-cost and low-maintenance summer house.

The house has two bedrooms in a single-level floor plan of only 67 m² (721 ft²). The layout is very unique for a small house in that the BAK architects put the bathroom at the center of the floor plan. The other rooms are arranged around it, with a circulation path circling the bathroom. That seems like it would make for an inefficient use of space, and yet the house appears quite spacious in the photos. Sliding doors allow the kitchen and private areas to be closed off from the living area as needed.

Concrete was chosen as the main structural material for its combination of low cost, low maintenance and ability to blend in with the grays of the surrounding forest. The raw concrete gives the interior a spartan appearance, but the walls and ceiling are given some added character by the texture of the boards used to form them. The outer walls of the living area are fully glazed to ensure maximum light within the dark forest. Two linear skylights aligned with the bathroom walls bring daylight into the center of the house, with the light subtly playing over the wall surfaces during the course of the day.

Enjoy the photos of Casa Mar Azul!

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Photographs courtesy of BAK Arquitectos. Via Arquitour.

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