NoFe House | Equipo de Arquitectura

As time goes by, architectural criteria adapt to the collective knowledge and qualities that we consider fundamental. Although the focus of practice has evolved throughout the constant process of building the discipline, the main objective of architecture has remained the same since humans have extended their quest for inhabitation beyond the simple act of providing shelter, and that is to elevate our existential relationship of being in the world. With the creation of spaces that connect us to a sense of belonging to the context, the place and the environment, we consolidate our relationship with the environment, understanding that living in a qualitative sense is conditioned by the configuration of those spaces.

The channels to build this well-being vary and depend on many factors, but we can identify and agree on certain considerations that favor the construction of a place that impacts us positively and excites us.

Constant contact with vegetation and nature has shown that our link with the surroundings and the environment is inextricable. In this case, native plants are used as a principle of landscaping, betting on local flora and defending the natural biodiversity that promotes this type of vegetation. The presence of plants represents life, and in a house not only improves the quality of the air, but also the quality of the architectural experience, especially when vegetation is the protagonist. This amalgam between the artificial and the natural represents our relationship with the world we inhabit.

Natural light, controlled and filtered, plays a crucial role in creating spaces that connect us to time, seasons and movement. Cross ventilation in all spaces ensures the renewal of oxygen and the regulation of temperature and humidity during the warmer months. It seems fundamental to us to create an architecture that controls and allows the connection between the interior and the exterior, that breathes and regulates light and ventilation.

The use of natural materials is also part of this architectural search, opting for local materials such as stone, brick, wood and concrete. These materials are transformed and worked by local craftsmen, imprinting a knowledge and tradition that represent the ways of doing things in our context. Each material, in turn, responds to the logic of its own nature. Stone forms the base of the house, linked to the earth by its weight and its behavior as retaining walls. Then come the bricks, lighter elements that allow a stacking and an arrangement that organizes the spaces of the upper floors. Wood, much lighter, allows us to generate mobile panels, furniture and doors. And concrete, on the other hand, gives us the freedom to organize the structure based on the spatial and functional scheme of the house.

The site where the house is located has a significant slope and a tree that welcomes us, which allowed us to arrange the house on three levels: the parking and service area on the lower level, the social area on the first level and the private area on the second level. A conventionally sized lot thus becomes a system of spaces connected by courtyards that distribute light, oxygen, ventilation and biodiversity.

The transparency of the social area on the first level contrasts with the opacity of the second level, where the bedrooms, laundry room and office are located, programs that require greater privacy 

The relevance of designing a house that allows spatial amplitude, linking but protecting itself from the outside, with shadows, the ability to breathe and a relationship with matter and nature, makes the architecture a direct response to the local reality.

Photographer: Federico Cairoli