SET Habitable Modules / SET Ideas

Curated by Agustina Coulleri

Architects: SET Ideas
Area: 215 ft²
Year: 2020
Photographs:Gonzalo Viramonte, Catalina Garzon
Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Acqua system, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Aguer Maderas, Aluar, Bagnara, FV, Luz design, Mármoles Colón, Neo interior, Roller Market, Ternium, Trimble Navigation, alberdi, ferrum
Lead Architects: Carlos Arias, Heriberto Martinez, Pedro Ruiz Funes

Text description provided by the architects. Based on our experience as architects over the years, we have identified a difficulty when it comes to accessing our own spaces and executing a construction (economic uncertainty, long times, and tedious processes). In some way, traditional construction maintains its processes for thousands of years and it was there that we found an opportunity to enhance the way in which architecture, in general, is conceived.

"Everything simpler" is the motto of the studio and our main design premise for every decision about our design. The proposal from the studio is to industrialize architecture and all that concerns it. We approach each design from a preconceived base, but we are flexible in its design in order to personalize each case according to the client's tastes and preferences but in a more efficient and simple way. To simplify this process, the materials, the finishes, the measurements of the furniture, the openings, the technical details, and the aesthetic and functional resolutions are repeated, as in industries, but in this case, while we make architecture.

In this way, the interior space is simple, but the implantation is everything. In our environment of Córdoba, Argentina, wild and mountainous, it is important to spend time thinking about how the contact between the module and natural terrain will be; this has been our main and unforeseen challenge. The way it is implanted depends on each particular case and is something that we cannot standardize, but it is important that a design is specifically made for each case. Sometimes suspended, sometimes supported, sometimes flown, and sometimes in contact with the ground.

We have found that the process is much easier and less stressful for our clients as well as for ourselves as architects and builders. We are excited about the idea of an evolution of the architectural solution in a comprehensive way as we have full control of the entire process, so fewer open fronts and better resolutions… Over time, the ways that people buy, eat, play sports have changed, but what did architecture do? Not so much, that is why this is an opportunity for a new system, it is an opportunity to break paradigms and processes.