A Wave of Concrete Caps This Glass-Walled Home in Argentina

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Project Details:

Location: Balcarce, Argentina

Architect: BIOMA / @b.i.o.m.a

Footprint: 1,292 square feet

Structural Engineer: Ingenieria Line

Photographer: Javier Agustín Rojas / @javieragustinrojas

From the Architect: "On the outskirts of Balcarce, Argentina, a mountain ridge appears interrupted by a precise void: a clean cut in the slope, a missing piece that becomes a signal. The house takes this ‘bite’ as its starting point and organizes all of its material around that absence. Rather than an isolated object, it is conceived as a device for looking: a heavy roof aligned with the silhouette of the ridge that establishes, in the foreground, a new geometry from which to read the landscape again.

"The primary decision is a single structure formed by six continuous concrete barrel vaults. They are not simply roofs; they are the element that gives the project its scale, measure, and rhythm. Arranged in sequence, they draw a strong horizontal band that dialogues with the jagged profile of the ridge. Beneath this thickness, sun, wind, and shade are negotiated: light enters in sharp cuts, slides along the curved gable ends, and toward evening arrives at a low angle, clearly marking the rhythm of the vaults within the interior.

"Life in the house unfolds beneath this structural plane, understood less as a functional layout than as a path of movement. There are no obvious corridors: access to the bedrooms occurs through an internal promenade that widens and angles, at times becoming a study and at others a threshold. This route crosses diagonally against the direction of the vaults, so the inhabitant does not simply occupy the rooms but moves along the structure—skirting it, seeing it obliquely, sensing how it repeats and breaks. Space thus becomes a sequence of approaches to the roof, the landscape, and the patios.

"In contrast to the rigid concrete piece, a second system appears that is closer to the body: white brick walls that move in and out of the plan, extend outdoors, and bend to form benches, niches, and sheltered pockets. The patios rely on these walls and puncture the planted roof, allowing vegetation to rise within the modules of the vaults. The interiors are therefore constructed in immediate relationship with small gardens: opening a door means entering a bedroom, but also encountering a tree, a short shadow, a fragment of sky.

"The climate of Balcarce, with its strong and persistent winds, further sharpens these decisions. To the south, the brick walls are arranged as successive lines that fold and turn, generating filters, entrances, and shelter. They function not only as enclosures but as frames that channel the air and extend the house into the park. Between the solid band of vaults, the broken drawing of the walls, and the ever-present ridge nearby, the house seeks to be a precise refuge: a quiet work that simply holds shadow, horizon, and a handful of gardens beneath a single gesture."