wooden gabled house folds and recesses in the woods of argentina

CMMY House stands on a green lot in buenos aires

Argentinian architecture firm Estudio Galera takes over the construction of the modern forest ‘CMMY’ house situated near the western edge of Pinamar city in Buenos Aires. Away from the sea and downtown, the residence is built on an irregularly shaped lot presenting a steep slope on the front and back, bordering a dense forest. The commission outlines the design of a modern house topped by a gable roof, firstly interpreted as a large shed.

From the outside, CMMY stands as a rigid single volume with recesses and folds. However, the internal typology is completely decomposed to generate spaces that articulate ‘through the air’, with a flowy circulation system linking the living spaces. The essence of void space holds the design principle of the composition. The imperceptible slope of the natural terrain is preserved as the residence stands on a platform supported by cylindrical concrete pylons. The stilt system forms a structural link between the ground and the construction.

all images courtesy of Estudio Galera

a ‘broken down’ gabled house with a versatile interior

The difference between the interior elevation of the house and the street level, along with the distance and vegetation, act as a privacy filter. The triple central height is the nexus to which the main rooms converge and staircases serve as connectors for circulation, ventilation, and visual continuity. The first floor leads to a balcony viewpoint giving access to the top level that arranges a work and meeting space, and a future studio upholstered with books and vinyl disks. Thus, the staircase mediates between domestic life and work.

The center of the house remains open organizing the program on the perimeter and attending to the slope of the terrain through its form. Estudio Galera‘s CMMY house stands as a hybrid between two design languages and typologies, a gabled house in the woods, and a contemporary flexible, and versatile interior. The compact form is broken down into a ‘containment roof’, cut, luffed, and folded to allow sunlight within the structure; and two recessed ends. The materiality and the logic of the fenestration vary to generate intermediate spaces in the inside-outside connection.

small pieces construct a single volume

A winter garden is positioned on the west side to conserve and distribute heat into the house during winter while acting as a shield in summer. The open yard turns into a thermal regulation device enhancing energy efficiency in a compact house with an envelope composed of several insulating layers. The project is organized around common premises such as ensuring low maintenance. The wooden structure folds and recesses to remain protected under the large eaves of the roof. The seemingly single volume is constructed out of small pieces of a combined system.

Concrete piles are the point of contact with the sand and the support base for a structure formed by pine beams on which a metal structure is assembled. The structure takes the bending stresses creating the structural ‘cage’ where the different layers of the floors and panels are assembled on-site. CMMY stands as a geometrically rigorous container that offers shelter from inclement weather while allowing the development of a fluid and flexible spatial internal arrangement.

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project info:

name: CMMY House
designer: Estudio Galera | @estudiogalera

design team: Ariel Galera, Cesar Amarante, Francisco Villamil, Luisina Noya

location: Pinamar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom