Cozzi House / Germán Müller

Architects

Germán Müller
Location

San Justo, Argentina
Project Area

80.0 m2
Project Year

2014
Photographs

Federico Cairoli

Collaborators

DLS arquitectura
Site Management

Fernando Chemes
Structures

Sebastián Stechina

Text description provided by the architects. The house is located in the city of San Justo, in the province of Santa Fe, a town of about 40,000 inhabitants located 100km north of the provincial capital.

The problem was to design in a lot of 11.50 x 27.80 meters a detached house through a mortgage (Procrear program) which in its first stage of approximately 80m2 addressed the requirements of a single young professional and considered an extension of a one bedroom suite.

Given the small size, the need for interior square meters and the decision to design the house on ground floor due to costs, the strategy was a layout of program and courtyards, seeking to tap the full potential of the land.

The front yard serves as a buffer between the privacy of the house and the street, the contact with the street is materialized by a wall of concrete blocks with the concept of Brazilian Cobogó, setting a visual filter that allows the passage of the sun. This courtyard raises a contemplative relationship with the social area of the house from its vegetation.

The social area is designed by taking the width of the site to enhance the visual-spatial continuity between front and rear courtyards. The link with the backyard is given through a partially covered space that is proposed as a meeting area around the barbecue sector in a more active relationship.

Then the private area of the house is designed linearly on the south party wall, to achieve the best lighting and ventilation conditions. The bedrooms in the final stage will be articulated by an interior courtyard in the master bedroom, for contemplation and privacy, separate from the main courtyard of the house with a cement block filter.

Regarding sustainability issues, we considered energy savings from filters and semi-covered spaces that mitigate the impact of direct sunlight but allow cross ventilation. In turn, we put special attention into the insulation of the roof, for example above the slab and below the sealing.

We also used for a solar water heater located on the roof, which acts as an alternative to the regular water heater, reducing the consumption of gas, which is a problem because there is no natural gas network in the city.