Gonzalo Viramonte

OBJECTIVE

The project’s typological concept is based on three vertical houses, which are not stacked but semidetached with cross ventilation, shared garage, private backyards and balconies and a shared terrace roof. Each house has an internal reduced width of 3,13 meters, which is compensated by their lengthwise development of 18 meters. The structure of concrete determines not only the expression of the building but also the typological character of the ensemble, where the different levels are connected by the stairs in each of the units, from the ground floor to the terrace. The vertical typology allows for the absence of dividing walls, which can be assembled if necessary, also by the incorporation of movable furniture, depending on the users’ needs. All the installations and wiring are visible and accessible, which allows to improve maintenance conditions and adaptation in case of unpredicted uses. The whole building expresses an unfinished sense, susceptible of being transformed or intervened. It is conceived as a dynamic support, adaptable to the users’ needs.
The north facade is understood as a vertical garden that functions as a climate filter. It is composed of perennial climbing plants that grow from the planters on the first floor and extend to the shared terrace.

CONTEXT

One of the most critical problems in Córdoba, as in many other Latin American cities, is the growing degradation of the downtown area and the outskirts of the historic center. The city expands to the suburbs in multiple low density fragments, from poor ghettos to exclusive gated neighborhoods -generic urbanizations to the detriment of the original concepts of city and citizenship.
Inserting hybrid habitats (housing + work) in degraded areas, taking advantage of the strategic location of the central area and its surroundings, with a great diversity of services and infrastructure, constitutes an efficient and sustainable way of reverting the processes of degradation and urban expansion of our cities. This insertion favors the coexistence of heterogeneous users, promotes contemporary and flexible ways of urban living, consolidates communal exchanges and actions, and fosters the notions of neighborhood and supportive civic practices.
The building is a micro density trial of three semidetached houses/studios in a regular plot of Ducasse neighborhood. It is located in the northern outskirts of the central area of Córdoba city, near Suquía river and Las Heras park, a traditionally commercial area typically related to the selling of auto parts which is in constant urban transformation.
The micro community of three semidetached houses offers a sense of livability and heterogeneity to a mono functional and degraded surrounding. Its potential for urban reactivation makes this type of insertions in the urban network desirable.