Argentine architecture studio Estudio Galera, was commissioned to design Casa Pingüino, a house located in the Argentine town of Cariló (a Mapuche word meaning "Green Médano"), known for its exceptional natural environment, a forest reserve, dunes, and beach with an extension of three km of maritime front, to the south of the Partido de Pinamar, province of Buenos Aires, 360 km from the capital.

The clients requested a vacation residence, establishing a fluid dialogue with the architects, focusing attention on how to plan the program according to their uses, customs, sensations, and imagined activities, rather than preconceived dimensions or appearances.
Estudio Galera, designed the house paying special attention to the admiration of the owners for traditional Japanese architecture, reformulating concepts such as modulation (tatami), gallery (engawa), light enclosures (fusuma), connection to the exterior (shoji) and flexible furniture (oshire).

The house is built on a horizontal plot in which a direct relationship with the outside is established. Organized into three linear bands, locating toilets and kitchens in the band with the least favorable orientation (the southern south) and opening the main rooms and the gallery to the north.

Casa Pingüino is a flexible home for temporary use, with the possibility of growing and transforming. The interior spatial partition system facilitates rapid changes in the spatial definition, going from a large meeting space to a living room with a closed bedroom. In addition, the house has a mezzanine under the sloping roof that functions as a children's bedroom with a terrace.

The materiality takes advantage of the local resources of the area. The interior is defined by the omnipresent presence of wood, which disappears on the exterior (to facilitate low maintenance) executed with concrete, glass, and sheet metal.


Pingüino House by Estudio Galera. Photograph by Javier Agustín Rojas.

Pingüino House by Estudio Galera. Photograph by Javier Agustín Rojas.
 

Project description by Estudio Galera

Pingüino House is a vacation residence conceived to offer a variety of leisure activities in the tourist town of Cariló, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Conversations with the clients focused on the type of activities done in a summer house rather than on a preconceived architectural form. Discussions about customs, sensations, desires, and tastes replaced the usual initial exchanges referring to the number of bedrooms, square meters, and aspects related to the appearance of the building. The owners' admiration for traditional Japanese architecture was taken into account and made us reformulate some concepts: modulation (tatami), gallery (engawa), lightweight enclosures (fusuma), linkage to the exterior (shoji), and flexible furniture (oshire).

The terrain did not present major topographic features which allowed the house to be fully connected with the lot by means of a semi-covered gallery. Pingüino House is oriented linearly in three layers parallel to the median axes. The service area was placed in the less favorable orientation, while the main rooms and the gallery were open to the north.


Pingüino House by Estudio Galera. Photograph by Javier Agustín Rojas.

The relaxed specifications related to the use of the dwelling allowed us to think of the spaces and their appropriation in a less structured way, offering flexibility in both space and time. In this sense, the layout can change thanks to the indeterminacy of the rooms and the mobile elements: from a large meeting space to a living/dining room with an enclosed bedroom. Both the aluminum and wood millwork allow quick modifications of the space, connecting the covered modules with the semi-covered ones. The space of use and kitchen surface is doubled by linking this area with the grill zone. The house is thus transformed and its possible uses thrive during the summer.

Multiple possibilities of expansion also ensure flexibility over time. Pingüino is supported by a regular and modulated scheme that allows the creation of new bathrooms and bedrooms in continuity with the strata of use. In this sense, it is an informal and flexible dwelling for temporary use, but with the possibility of growing and transforming itself into a house with a traditional distribution if the demand so requires. The residence allows adaptations to current and possible future demands as modern ways of living require versatility in the formal definition of housing.


Pingüino House by Estudio Galera. Photograph by Javier Agustín Rojas.

The wagon space nests three basic compositional elements: service area, gallery, and roof. This last component becomes volumetric, linking the main car with a mezzanine of flexible uses -currently functioning as a children's bedroom- that ends in a terrace with views of the semi-covered barbecue area.

Different factors influenced the choice of materials and technologies used. Pinamar city has a long history of wood-worked roofs so Pingüino House allowed us to rethink the typical sloping roof and to synthesize it avoiding unnecessary construction complexities. In this sense, the studio tried to incorporate a new approach to roofing technologies while maintaining the local heritage. As a result, different materials and technologies were adopted: the wood omnipresent in the interior disappears on the outside and it is replaced by concrete, glass, and sheet metal to secure low maintenance. A sheet metal formwork system was used for the concrete pouring in the service car. Different elements interact with each other through relationships of form, geometry, color, and materiality.

Pinguino House may look simple but it seeks to respond to complex and changing demands. The dwelling explores contemporary aesthetics while suggesting certain references to the history of the place. This was a project designed to exploit the material and human resources of the area. Above all, this is a house that 'proposes' rather than 'imposes' uses and that changes according to the needs of the user, in times where the pace of social transformations far exceeds the building's shelf life.

More information

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Architects
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Estudio Galera Arquitectura. Architects.- Ariel Galera. Arq., Cesar Amarante. Arq., Francisco Villamil. Arq., Luisina Noya. Arq.
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Project team
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Soledad Van Schaik, Juan Cruz Ance, Facundo Casales, Juan Cardoso Lopes, Tomas Molinaro.
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Collaborators
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Engineer.- Juan Pablo Busti.
Quantity Surveyor.- Claudio y Juan Pablo Deramo.
Management Construction.- Pablo Ahumada. MMO
Management Administration.- Verónica Coleman.
Texts and translation.- Soledad Pereyra.
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Builder
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Builder.- Hugo Marín.
Roofs.- Bauer Hermanos.
Electricity.- Gabriel Jaimón.
Sanitation / Heating.- Cristian Carrizo.
Ducts and sheet metal.- Rubén Calvo.
Smithy.- Hernan / Juan Rascione.
Decks.- Gwez Obras.
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Area
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Plot area.- 1,050 m².
GFA.- 155 m².
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Dates
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Design.- 2021.
Works.- .- 2021 - 2022.
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Location
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Cariló, Partido de Pinamar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Suppliers
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Wood millwork.- El Holandés.
Aluminum millwork.- Alumia.
Concrete supplier.- Pasalto.
Irons.- Acindar / Casa Caligari.
Iron Sheets.- Plastigas.
Timber.- SAB.
Coarse agregate.- Casa Caligari.
Sanitary materials.- Mastergas.
Paintings.- Sagittarius.
Marbles.- LAVIGE.
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Photography
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Estudio Galera Arquitectura is an architectural firm based in the seaside resort city of Cariló, founded in 2007 by Ariel Galera. Together with César Amarante and Francisco Villamil, they are dedicated to the design, management, and construction of architectural projects. Their work methodology consists of gathering information and analyzing the problem from different perspectives, ensuring orderly planning and maximizing resource utilization.

Throughout their professional development, they have received a number of awards and recognitions, including the following: Selected Work, Quito International Biennial. "KVS House" (2014), Selected Works, Buenos Aires International Architecture Biennial. "Casa Batín" and "Casa Tempo" (2015), Recognition for professional activity from the English magazine WALLPAPER - "20 emerging studios at a global level" (2015), Mention CAPBA Award Built Work 2015. "Casa Pioneros" (2015), Mention CAPBA Award Built Work 2016. "Casa Álamos" (2015), Second Prize CAPBA Built Work. "Casa Kuvasz" (2017), Mention in the CAPBA Award Built Work. "Casa Rincón" (2019), Finalist for the Dedalo Minose Award, exhibition in Vicenza, Italy. "Casa Kuvasz" (2019), selected for the Buenos Aires International Biennial "Casa Divisadero, Casa Kuvasz, Casa Rincón, Casa AYYA and Basque Pavilion" (2019), "Young Argentine Generation Award" at the Buenos Aires International Architecture Biennial (2019).

Ariel Galera is an architect who graduated from the National University of Mar del Plata in 2003. Between 2009 and 2011, he completed a postgraduate degree in Architecture and Technology at the Torcuato Di Tella University of Buenos Aires. Between 2003 and 2007, he worked for other studios in the area. In 2007, he founded Estudio Galera.

César Amarante is an architect who graduated from the National University of Mar del Plata in 2017. He has collaborated with Estudio Galera since 2012, in parallel with his teaching career at the Juan Luis Vives Institute in Villa Gesell. He also works as a teaching assistant in the "Parametric Modeling" course in the Architecture program at the National University of Mar del Plata.

Francisco Villamil is an architect who graduated in 2004 from the National University of Mar del Plata. He divides his career between professional development and teaching. In the academic field, he works as head of practical work in the Recate chair at FAUD/UNMdP.

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Published on: August 24, 2023
Cite:
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
"Flexibility and transformation as expression of permanence. Pingüino House by Estudio Galera" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/flexibility-and-transformation-expression-permanence-pinguino-house-estudio-galera> ISSN 1139-6415
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