A single gesture was all it took to resolve the mountain retreat designed by the Bioma team: eloquently, and with a certain reminiscence of Antoni Bonet i Castellana's "La Ricarda," the horizontal structural plane becomes the central element. The sequence of barrel vaults responds sensitively to the passage of time, the harshness of the weather, and the surrounding environment.
Beneath the imposing linear concrete structure, domestic life unfolds freely, without restrictions or imposed hierarchies. The design is completed with a series of white brick walls that, strategically combined with small intermediate gardens, organize the different living spaces. In constant dialogue with the landscape and the horizon, the "Del Mordisco House" is conceived as a project that formally and harmoniously completes a latent space in the Balcarce mountain range.
"Del Mordisco House" by Bioma. Photograph by Javier Agustín Rojas.
Project description by Bioma
On the outskirts of Balcarce, a mountain range appears interrupted by a precise void: a sharp cut in the hillside, a gap that becomes a symbol. The house takes this "bite" as its starting point and organizes all its materiality around this absence. More than an isolated object, it is conceived as a device for viewing: a heavy roof that aligns with the silhouette of the mountain range and establishes, in the foreground, a new geometry from which to reinterpret the landscape.
The main design choice is a single structure formed by six continuous concrete barrel vaults. They are not just roofs: they are the element that gives the project its scale, measure, and sense of time. Arranged continuously, they trace a striking, horizontal band that engages with the broken profile of the hills. Beneath this thickness, sun, wind, and shadow are negotiated: the light enters in a slivered form, glides over the curved tympanums, and, towards the afternoon, arrives at a low angle, clearly marking the rhythm of the vaults within.
The life of the house unfolds beneath this structural plane, understood more as a journey than a functional layout. There are no obvious hallways: access to the bedrooms is via an internal walkway that widens and angles, sometimes defining itself as a study and at other times as a threshold. This path intersects diagonally with the direction of the vaults, so that the inhabitant not only occupies the rooms but also traverses the structure, skirts around it, views it from the side, and feels how it repeats and interrupts itself. The space thus becomes a sequence of approaches to the roof, the landscape, and the courtyards.
In contrast to the rigid concrete structure, a second system appears closer to the building: white brick walls that extend in and out of the floor plan, continue outwards, and break to form benches, niches, and shelters. The courtyards rest against these walls and pierce the green roof, allowing vegetation to grow within the vaulted structure. The interiors are thus built in direct relation to small gardens: opening a door is entering a bedroom, but it is also encountering a tree, a brief shadow, a patch of sky.
Balcarce's climate, with its strong and persistent winds, further refines these design choices. To the south, the brick walls are arranged as successive lines that fold, creating filters, access points, and shelters. They function not only as enclosures but also as frames that channel the air, extending the house into the park. Between the hard band of the vaults, the broken pattern of the walls, and the ever-present mountains, "Del Mordisco House" seeks to be a precise refuge: a still structure that simply holds the shade, the horizon, and a few gardens with a single gesture.
