BLACK BOX HOUSE / Indeterminate Dwelling
And yet you wait, a labyrinth without surprises, and yet you can still… open your black box… Soda Stereo
Located in the Punilla Valley, Villa Parque Siquiman is part of a series of growing towns, with families seeking a life close to the city of Córdoba in direct contact with areas of great natural value. In this way, they combine work and leisure, rest and activities in nature, as well as an investment linked to tourism.
The Territory and the Program
The “black box” house project arises from the interplay between a natural site with complex topography—20 meters wide by 80 meters deep, with a steep slope towards Lake San Roque—and a contemporary housing program. The proposal is defined by its climatic and spatial adaptability for a family of three, allowing the levels of use to evolve over time.
Indeterminate Living
"Indeterminate living" proposes, within a black box, versatile, non-hierarchical spaces with multiple possibilities for organization and use, adapting to the changing needs of the users and transcending the rigid traditional layout. Using a structural grid of 4.50 x 4.50 m, a flexible configuration is possible, fostering functional freedom and blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, intimate and public.
Living in the Landscape
Under the principles of sustainability, a design with minimal environmental impact was chosen. The design seeks to generate high-quality interstitial spaces through the relationship between architecture and nature. The guiding question was: how does a neutral, modular, and lightweight architecture interact with a fragile, harsh, and rugged terrain?
The answer was to embed the house in the ravine. By connecting the roof to street level, public views of the lake are preserved, and the structure is integrated into the site. Therefore, accessing the house via the roof creates a direct, experiential connection with the landscape, and walking intensifies the experience of approaching the lake.
Level Organization
The house is structured in four levels, each proposing a different relationship with the landscape: from viewpoint to refuge, from opacity to transparency.
Level 0 (Street): Pedestrian and vehicular access, and upper entrance on a walkable roof. It functions as a promenade, terrace, and viewpoint. Entry to the house is via a staircase that pierces this surface.
Level -1 (The Black Box): Lower entrance. Double-height (3.70 m) integrated social space with continuous movement. The floor plan is organized into 4.50 x 4.50 m modules where the kitchen and dining area are dissolved using movable furniture, allowing activities to expand into the gallery depending on the season. The private area is also located on this level, with a master bedroom and a second semi-open bedroom for flexible use.
Level -2 (Interstitial Space): Beneath the main structure and in contact with the ravine are the shaded pools and a multipurpose area (playroom, gym, studio, or guest bedroom).
Level -3 (Garden): An esplanade at -8.50 m that functions as a retention pond and patio. From here, the house can be seen in its entirety, revealing a significant change of scale in relation to the native forest.
Materiality and Technology / Sustainable and Healthy Living
The house meets LEED v4 certification criteria. Using simple, locally sourced materials that offset and reverse the carbon footprint, it was possible to construct the house quickly, elevated off the ground with minimal environmental impact, maximizing the use of existing natural resources.
The structure is a synthesis of efficiency: a reinforced concrete base transitions seamlessly with the surrounding rock, supporting steel columns. The roof is composed of metal lattice beams that define the roof slopes and ceiling.
Material contrast is key: the exterior cladding of black fiber cement panels—which acts as a fire barrier—contrasts with the interior warmth of the Elliotis pine and locally sourced eucalyptus floors.
Simple, locally sourced materials that offset and reverse the carbon footprint.
The volume, conceived as a "black box" that explores depth and origin, disappears into the green of the mountain forest.
