A holiday home. House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

The architectural studio Luciano Kruk Arquitectos has built this holiday home for two families who wanted to get away from the bustle of the big city.

House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Potography © Daniela Mac Adden

The house designed by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos, executed in concrete respects the existing vegetation in the plot and produces a continuous transit between the interior and exterior of the house. A real delight to rest far away from the big city.

Description of the project by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

S+J House is located in the seaside neighborhood Costa Esmeralda, a private development 13 km north of the city of Pinamar and four hours away from Buenos Aires city.

Despite being almost plain, the plot of land slopes softly towards its back. As the Studio proposed to preserve the lot’s dense pine grove, only the trees on the construction site were removed in order to build the house.

The client, a group of two families, requested a house that could lodge both at the same time and that could be rented out.

The commission consisted of a recreation house built entirely out of exposed concrete, with minimalist interior spaces and little maintenance requirements. The brief included two en suite bedrooms with their own closets and two cabin-like minimum rooms sharing a bathroom. So as to make the social area the most important place in the house, an external expansion was requested. Also, the client asked for a closed space for beach vehicles and a semi covered area parking lot. Special emphasis was laid on the need to establish a fluid relation between the inner spaces and the exterior, which would allow a closer experience of the forest.

In order to preserve the native vegetation, the house was set longitudinally and the setback on the front and the sides was expanded beyond the minimum required by code. By so doing, the house ended up surrounded by pines.

Following regulating lines, an orthogonal grid organizes the house’s structure and space. The house is arranged in two staggered platforms disposed at half-height and connected through smoothly sloped ramp-like stairs and an empty space in which the pine forest becomes a part of the house.

At half-height of the entrance level and set on the natural terrain, the platform at the back houses the social area, which opens into a terrace overlooking the golf court behind the plot of land. Half a level above the social area, the bedrooms’ platform rises on the front, underpinned by a prism lodging service and storing areas.

Aiming at centering the loads to the smallest space possible, this supporting volume was set back and reduced to its minimum as an attempt at once to enhance the feeling that the upper box is floating and to take advantage of the semi covered space on the natural terrain as the parking area the clients had requested.

The glazed bridges connecting both platforms traverse the void space through a pines-surrounded promenade upon which light falls from the rooftop and drips through the tree branches. In this way, the forest’s vital energy is introduced into the house.

While both the exterior shell and the inner partitions are made of exposed concrete, the floors are made of smooth concrete. In order to emphasize the openings without confronting this material’s stony essence, dark bronze anodized aluminum was used in the framings.

In an elementary architectural scheme—synthesized in two platforms connected by bridges and green patios—a continuum stripe made of concrete swathes the whole house, thus producing a single volume, composed of void and filled areas, that at once shelters the interior space from the outside view and preserves its intimacy without dissociating the house from the nature around.

Read less

Casa S+House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Potography © Daniela Mac Adden J por Luciano Kruk. Fotografía © Daniela Mac Adden Arquitectos

House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Potography © Daniela Mac Adden J por Luciano Kruk. Fotografía © Daniela Mac Adden Arquitectos

House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Potography © Daniela Mac Adden por Luciano Kruk. Fotografía © Daniela Mac Adden Arquitectos

Site plan. House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Image courtesy of Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

Ground floor plan. House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Image courtesy of Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

Section. House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Image courtesy of Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

Axonometric. House S+J by Luciano Kruk Arquitectos. Image courtesy of Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

View more images

Metalocus recommends

Tower 15 by OODA. Photograph by Fernando Guerra

Formal unity and diversity. Tower 15 by OODA

SWITCH, New Simon Headquarters by b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos. Photograph by José Hevia

A house for light. SWITCH, New Simon Headquarters by b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

Domestic housing in the suburbs. House MF by Balsa Crosetto Piazzi

More information

Label

Architect

Text

Arq. Luciano Kruk

Label

Collaborators

Text

Arq. Belén Ferrand, Arq. Andrés Conde Blanco, Darío Cecilian

Label

Area

Text

Land area.- 1000 m²
Built area.- 189 m²

Label

Dates

Text

Construction year: 2016

Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

Luciano Kruk was born on July 20, 1974, in Buenos Aires and in 2000 got a degree in Architecture at the University of Buenos Aires, where he taught Project until 2009. Nowadays, he continues to develop his academic activity as Visiting Professor. As such, he has been invited by the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM); Iuav University of Venice; UNIVALI of Santa Catarina, in Brazil; USJT of São Paulo, in Brazil; and the Argentinian universities of San Martín (USAM), of Congreso (UC), in Mendoza, and of San Juan (UNSJ), where he conducted a post-graduate seminar. He has also given seminars and lectures at different conference series in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Italy.

He is a member of the architectural advisory committee at the National Commission of University Assessment and Accreditation (CONEAU). He is also a member of the Jury of the Province of Buenos Aires Association of Architects (CAPBA) and has participated as evaluator in the 2013 Biennial held by the Association.

Between 2000 and 2012, Luciano was a partner at BAKarquitectos architecture office (Besonías-Almeida-Kruk), where his work gained much recognition: among other awards, he received First Prize for Individual Housing Project at the 2007 and 2009 Biennials held by CAPBA; the Special Prize Eduardo Sacrite presented by CAPBA in 2005; First Prize from Alucobond for Young Architecture in 2005; and the Great Prize at the CPAU/SCA Biennial in 2006.

In 2012 he founded Luciano Kruk arquitectos architectural office, where he has been carrying out numerous individual and collective housing projects.

In 2015, Luciano was chosen as a representative for Argentina in the 9th International Festival of Architecture and Urbanism “Architecture Week Prague 2015”, which took place in Prague, Check Republic. His works have been published in numerous specialized media both in Argentina and abroad, in different countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

He has been invited as professor at the following universities:
-Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM), ETSAM, 2016 -Iuav University of Venice, Italy, Workshop WAVE Cicle 2012. -USJT of São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2011) -National University of San Juan, Argentina (2013) -University Univalí, Santa Catarina, Brazil (2014). -University of San Martin, Argentina (2015).

He has lectured in the following cycles:
- Cycle Design Patagonia, 2007, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Neuquén. - Lecture Series 2007, Professional Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Buenos Aires. - Pos seminar graduation USJT, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2011. - International Architecture Congress ARQEX, Merida, Mexico, 2014 - International Congress of Architecture, Mendoza, Argentina, 2015.

Outstanding Awards: - First Prize for Franz House (2012) in SCA “Sociedad Central de Arquitectos”, Buenos Aires, Argentina. - Prize for Architectural Planning for JD House (2011), Bienal of Architecture of Buenos Aires and Chamber of Architects, Buenos Aires, Argentina. - Architecture Award ARQ Argentina (2011) for House Cher, Mention in the category Smaller Scale. - Prize for Architecture, Planning, Research and Theory for “Beach House” (2009), Chamber of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. -Second Prize Competition “Architecture and Brick” for “Brick House, XII BA09 International Biennial of Architecture in Buenos Aires, Argentina. - Third Honorable Mention for Concrete House (2008) XVI BAQ Arqutecture Biennial, Pan Quito, Ecuador. - First Biennial Prize for Architecture Planning, Research and Theory (2007) for Concrete House, Chamber of Architcts of the Province of Buenos Aires. - Grand Prix Biennial CPAU / SCA (2006) for “House Blue Sea” Professional Council of Architecture and Urbanism of the City of Buenos Aires and Central Society of Architects. - Architecture Biennale Award Sacriste Planning, Research and Theory (2005) for “House Blue Sea” Chamber of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires. - First Young Architecture Prize in 2005, organized by Alucobond.

Outstanding exhibitions:
-The 9th Festival of Architecture and Urbanism ¨Architecture Week Prague 2015¨, Prague, Czech Republic - Display Recent Work Argentina for Concrete House, COAM Foundation (Colegio Oficial Arquitectos Madrid) January 2011. Madrid, Spain. - XVII Pan American Biennial of Architecture of Quito, November 2010. “Beach House” and “US Building”. - Biennial Prize SCA / CPAU 2010, Malba, October 2010. ”Beach House”, ”US Building”. - IV International Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism "Habitat + Inclusion" Museum Complex of the City of Lujan, November 2009. - XII International Biennial of Architecture in Buenos Aires (XII BA09), September 2009. “Building US” , and “Blue Sea”. - XII Congress Arquisur, National University of Mar del Plata, Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Design, Mar del Plata, October 2008. Concrete House. - 11th International Venice Biennale of Architecture, September / November 2008. Concrete House. - XVI Pan American Biennial of Architecture of Quito, November 2008. Concrete House. - 7th Architecture Biennale in Sao Paulo in December 2007. Casa Mar Azul and Concrete House. - XI International Biennial of Architecture in Buenos Aires (XI BA07), September 2007. Concrete House, Casa Mar Azul and Casa Pilar.