A House Defined by the Landscape of Costa Esmeralda
Bordering the coastal city of Pinamar, Costa Esmeralda has emerged as a distinctive residential enclave surrounded by forests, dunes, and the Argentine coastline. Located on a rectangular site marked by a significant longitudinal level change, Casa Pirca embraces this challenging topography as its primary design driver, turning the site’s natural condition into a defining architectural asset.
Retaining Walls as the Architectural Foundation
Responding to the site’s steep terrain, the architects introduced a retaining wall that organizes the land into two distinct levels while supporting the main architectural volume above. The name “Pirca” references traditional Andean stone containment walls, historically used to shape pathways, terraces, and cultivated landscapes. Reinterpreted in a contemporary manner, the wall becomes both an infrastructural element and a narrative device that connects architecture, landscape, and regional heritage.
▎Applying both ideas, in a complex lot like the one mentioned, a wall is proposed that, throughout its total length, develops different functions: while creating the entrance and garage space, it contains a slope, supports the house as support, provides storage space underneath, and ends with the boundaries of the pool.
▎The functional response seeks to take advantage of both the particular quality of the lot and the best orientation, presenting a pure volume of closed concrete on the south side and open on the north side. Under the concept of a summer residence, materials that do not require constant maintenance are fundamental in the coastal area. We combine a mixed construction process that emphasizes the purity of materials, such as exposed concrete and local stone.
▎The aluminum carpentry materialized in black anodized color provides its own shine and transparency. The chosen and integrally designed furniture throughout the house was made of white lacquered MDF boards, enhancing the synthesis and neutrality that the house seeks to convey in its entirety, both functionally and formally.
