The blocks have two clearly recognizable fronts, one towards the boulevard and the other towards the neighborhood. The idea is to generate a type of block that responds appropriately and distinctly to each urban front while also addressing the various instances of privacy necessary when forming the housing complex.

Towards the neighborhood, we designed a system of semi-public spaces (patios) with a reduced scale containing the entrances to the houses on one level. Towards the boulevard, we set back the municipal line to 9.00m from the sidewalk to provide different instances of privacy longitudinally. We designed an "urban piece" of two levels formed by duplex houses that emphasizes the character of the boulevard. We address the accesses in voids, no longer of urban scale but of human scale.

The layout responds to the aforementioned edge conditions and is considerably more efficient than a "traditional" layout. 

 

SPATIAL GRADATION 

We design the transition from the purely public (street) to the highest intimacy, generating different stages of privacy. Identity and appropriation. 

 

IDENTITY AND APPROPRIATION 

The planned growth towards the boulevard front promotes the possibility of a ground floor space for a bedroom, workshop, or family business (for example, a hair salon), taking advantage of its fluid circulatory character. The six condominium owners appropriate a semi-public patio, which is a domestic space that will provide them with identity within the complex. Each patio is named after the species planted in it, for example, Patio of the Pink Lapachos. 

 

PARKING 

Parking spaces are located in small grouped sectors near the street layout to achieve appropriate economy in their materialization and, at the same time, close to the entrances to the houses. Along the boulevard, they are arranged in a way that does not interrupt the linear route of the sidewalk, prioritizing the pedestrian.

 

GREEN SPACES 

The proposal includes the design of green spaces as a central theme, understanding them in different categories: public, semi-public, semi-private, and private. 

 

SOLAR EXPOSURE AND VENTILATION 

The design of the houses ensures correct solar exposure. We define overhangs and eaves that allow sunlight in winter and restrict it in summer. 

Ventilation of the rooms is developed in a crosswise manner, and also vertically to allow proper airflow and keep the rooms cool in summer. 

 

CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 

The design of the houses is simple, with single-slope roofs to facilitate their construction. The chosen construction system is traditional, composed of ceramic bricks, reinforced concrete foundations and tie beams, and corrugated sheet metal roofing. 

 

Project details:

1st Prize National Competition of Ideas and Preliminary Projects for 196 grouped houses in the Lomas del Tafí development, Tucumán. 

Authors: Arch. Ezequiel Muñoz - Arch. Adrián Olivero. 

Collaborator: Cesar Ignacio Zaffalón. 

Year: 2009 

Approx. covered area to be built: 11,500m2