House Hidden in the scenery by Bender Freiberg Arquitectos

On the outskirts of Cordoba City, nestled in a plot of land with downward slope facing the northwest, the house embraces the region of Sierras Chicas (low mountain range). The guiding principle for the project: to achieve a horizontal plane with the least possible alteration to the hillside natural topography.

Architect: Bender Freiberg Arquitectos
Location: La Calera, Cordoba, Argentina
Year: 2018
Area: 300 sqm
Authors: Alejandro Bender, Laura Freiberg
Photography: Gonzalo Viramonte

From the architect: From the street, only the scenery can be seen, and the house stays hidden. Its walls come out from the ground stuck to the land, highlighting the importance of the roof covering. An exterior stairway serves as the main entrance and continues downwards to a central dry patio that welcomes you to the house interior. The infinity pool facing the horizon is the finishing touch of the entrance configuration.

Perpendicular to it, as a critical element of the project encompassing daily living and work, a main building was designed, and a second one with a barbecue area and study, located on the opposite side of the plot. Both buildings protect the patio from the wind, creating a unique microclimate that makes that space part of family daily life.

The façade windows, which can be fully opened, connect the interior and exterior by means of the patio, developing the concept of porch-house.

Southward, a level driveway, comfortable enough if the slope is considered, protects this façade from the heaviest of rain.

The social floor, represented by a single space of 7 x 23 meters, is located one level below the main street, providing more intimacy from every angle. From the social floor, the bedrooms below ground level can be accessed by means of a staircase, as if it were the “entrance to a cave”, in the authors' words. Being below ground level, a confortable atmosphere is created.

From a structural point of view, a sequence of inverted overhangs is used. The wall became a large beam in the southern projection over the underground patio and another projection, to the north, between the living room and the pool, making unnecessary the use of columns in the area and enhancing the views.

As for the materiality, in order to create interior coziness and exterior minimal maintenance, exposed concrete was used in walls, porphyry in floors and ceilings, and wood in the living-room.

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