#1_ SITE

The project is situated in Chacras de Coria, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, within a semi-urban setting of low-rise housing, vineyards and poplar trees that defines the cultural landscape of the Greater Mendoza foothills. The house — 170 m² developed on a single level — emerges from the desire to create an introverted refuge that engages with its context through a logic of containment and controlled openness.

The condition of the plot boundary is resolved by a continuous perimeter wall of exposed reinforced concrete that runs the full length of the building line. The texture of the concrete, with its visible formwork marks, lends the ensemble an honest, quiet and austere material presence towards the street. Access is articulated through a curved rotation of the perimeter walls themselves, which compresses the entry space and creates a threshold of transition between the public exterior and the domestic interior. In the twilight hours, grazing illumination from ground level accentuates the materiality of the concrete and frames the passage inside with a warm, private and contained atmosphere.

#2_ PROGRAMME AND TYPOLOGY

The floor plan is organised on a single level, tracing an "L"-shaped geometry that clearly zones the social area — living, dining and kitchen — and the bedrooms from the semi-covered carport and barbecue area. The morphological reading of the house reveals two volumes articulated beneath a corrugated sheet metal roof on a metal structure. Horizontal louvres extend over the expansion/carport areas, filtering direct solar radiation and extending the habitable space towards the exterior with filtered shade. The 1.50 m service strip that separates the programme from the south perimeter wall houses the sanitary cores and a series of south-facing interior patios that act as light wells and natural cross-ventilation lungs for all the spaces.

#3_ ORIENTATION AND LAYOUT

All principal spaces face north — a decision that maximises solar gain during the Mendoza winter and guarantees quality natural light throughout the day. The north façade is resolved with white aluminium floor-to-ceiling joinery, composed of large-format sliding doors that dissolve the boundary between interior space and the exterior patios. The "L"-shaped arrangement generates a double orientation in the social area, with openings towards both patios enabling cross-ventilation and enriching the spatial experience with filtered views through the concrete walls.

The interior adopts a serene and contained material palette: smooth white ceilings, light-toned porcelain tile flooring and kitchen joinery in soft greys with natural wood accents. Translucent fabric curtains hang from a perimeter rail along the entire glazed façade, modulating direct light entry and generating a diffuse and enveloping atmosphere during peak solar hours. The kitchen, integrated into the living-dining area through an island bench, structures the social space without fragmenting it — enhancing the conviviality and programmatic fluidity that characterise the proposal.

#4_ LIGHT AND BALANCE

The work proposes a precise balance between opacity and transparency. The exposed concrete of the perimeter system dialogues with the whiteness of the interior and the lightness of the textiles, composing a material sequence that accompanies the experience of dwelling from the entrance to the most intimate spaces. Light — both the daylight entering through the north-facing openings and the artificial illumination that marks the thresholds as night falls — becomes the material that accompanies the inhabitants through the passage of time and grants the work its definitive character.

TECHNICAL SHEET

_ Project Name: CCE House

_ Author: ONA – Oficina Nómada de Arquitectura / @ona.ofinomadadearq

_ Construction completion year: 2026

_ Built area: 170 m²

_ Location: Chacras de Coria – Luján de Cuyo – Mendoza – Argentina

_ Photography: Arch. Luis Abba / @luisabbaestudio

_ Project Team:

    _ Design: Arch. Nicolás Guerra

    _ Collaborators:

        Arch. Franco Sandes

        Arch. Juliana Catalani

        Arch. Diana Barrera

    _ Engineering: Civil Eng. Javier Edgardo Cicchinelli / ARCCUM

    _ Construction: Nestia Arquitectura / @nestiaarquitectura