Casa Miraflorino reinterprets the traditional enclosed balconies of Miraflores through a movable aluminum envelope, custom-designed to control shade, privacy, and views along the east and west façades. The house incorporates local materials and craftsmanship, preserves the existing vegetation, and connects its interiors with the garden and swimming pool.
The project takes the enclosed balconies characteristic of Miraflores as its starting point, understanding them as intermediate spaces that filter daylight, views, and the relationship between indoors and outdoors. Rather than reproducing their formal language, the design recovers this protective principle and translates it into a solution suited to contemporary living.
This reinterpretation takes the form of a modular second skin extending along the east and west façades. Black aluminum recasts the traditional material expression and transforms the enclosed balcony into a movable envelope capable of changing the house’s depth, rhythm, and degree of openness without literally reproducing historic architecture.
Each module is made entirely of black powder-coated aluminum and consists of hinged leaves fitted with fixed louvers. The system is operated manually: the leaves fold and slide along upper and lower tracks until they stack at the ends. When closed, the shutters filter solar exposure and increase privacy; when open, they restore views and a direct connection with the landscape.
The ground floor is arranged as a continuous sequence linking the living room, dining room, covered terrace, and barbecue area, extending toward the garden and swimming pool. Double-height spaces within the social area visually connect the levels, expand the sense of space, and bring natural light deep into the interior. On the upper floor, the private program is organized around a central circulation spine that connects the suites and mediates their relationship with the shuttered façades.
Basement plan: 1. Garage; 2. Laundry; 3. Storage room; 4. Mechanical room; 5. Staff bedroom; 6. Staff bathroom.
Ground-floor plan: 7. Living room; 8. Dining room; 9. Guest bathroom; 10. Study; 11. Service kitchen; 12. Kitchen; 13. Breakfast area; 14. Barbecue area; 15. Covered terrace; 16. Games room; 17. Guest suite; 18. Guest-suite bathroom and pool bathroom; 19. Swimming pool.
Upper-floor plan: 18. Junior-suite bathrooms; 20. Family lounge; 21. Walk-in closets; 22. Junior suites; 23. Master Suite; 24. Master Suite bathroom.
To the west, the covered terrace and barbecue area act as transitional spaces that extend indoor life toward the garden and swimming pool. The water surface continues the house’s primary sightlines, while the pre-existing vegetation, preserved throughout design and construction, integrates the architecture into the site’s original landscape.
The material palette creates a contrast between weight, warmth, and lightness. Bases clad in black stone anchor the volumes to the terrain, while polished concrete floors unify indoor and outdoor spaces. Wood adds warmth to ceilings, wall finishes, and screens; black aluminum and laminated glass form the lighter, movable layers of the envelope. The main materials and specialist work were locally sourced and carried out in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
The movable shutters, deep roof overhangs, and recessed window frames reduce direct solar exposure. Cross-ventilation is used in the master suite and the open areas of the covered terrace and barbecue zone, while preserving the existing vegetation maintains shade and the site’s natural conditions. These strategies are complemented by LED lighting, high-efficiency air-conditioning systems, photovoltaic panels, and low-flow plumbing fixtures.
