Clay 2928

Clay 2928 seeks to incorporate different spaces, elements and details from single-family houses in it's apartments.

Project details

• Project Name: Clay 2928
• Project Type: Housing Building
• Principal Designer/s: Dieguez Fridman, Arqs
• Location of site: Las Canitas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Words from the designer

"In a residential district of Buenos Aires, this housing project seeks to incorporate in its apartments -- different spaces, elements and details from single-family houses."

The facade acts an intermediate space (skin) between the interior and the exterior.

Detail of the facade.

"The eight units are organized in two levels, with the living room as a double-height space that connects them. Both -- the main bedroom and the living room; have wide terraces in front of them, one overlooking the other, closed by glass sunshades that reduce solar gain and transform the facade into an intermediate space between the interior and the exterior: an outdoor space protected from the wind, the rain and the views from the sidewalk."

Cars and people enter by the same place: a low platform with wooden floor, which serves as parking at night and as playground during the day.

"The units are organized in a way that they all have cross ventilation. The transit area, stairs and patio are in the middle of the units, which are divided into two sets of four apartments. All public circulations are outdoors, stressing the character of "little houses" of the apartments. Cars and people enter by the same place: a low platform with wooden floor, which serves as parking at night and as playground during the day."

Interior frosted glass divisions allow the light to pass from one room to the other and generate a reflections-and-shadows play.

"The interior frosted glass divisions allow the light to pass from one room to the other and generate a reflections-and-shadows play that's usually more frequent in commercial shops. These are also in concert with the solar shadings and the exterior and patio glass facades, which all constitute a series of veils that allow different types of light during the day."

Interiors of an apartment.

Interiors of an apartment.

"Along the XX century, some of the biggest household building projects in the city have proposed ruminations or experiments over different problems, some related to houses and ways of living, and others more to do with architecture's relation with nature, constructive systems, or climate. "

Patio to an apartment.

"This project aims to go beyond the imposed regulations' limitations and the need to maximize economic profits (that most initiatives today have become all about).

It tries to step towards a direction with experimentation as its aim."

Credits

• Text and Photographs, Courtesy of Dieguez Fridman arquitectos & asociados
• Compiled and Edited by Varun M Ajani