Casa Lelis in Argentina by Valentin Brügger

The town of Los Reartes is located around 60 km south of the eponymous metropolis in the mountainous holiday region of Sierra de Córdoba in Argentina. The weekend house designed by Valentin Brügger and his firm draws on elements of the local building tradition, particularly the solid exterior walls and light roofs covered with corrugated iron. However, this model has been significantly modified: rather than masonry, the exterior walls of Casa Lelis are made of raw concrete with integrated field stones, which sometimes occupy the entire wall thickness. The roof, on the other hand, extends in front of the terrace as a steel skeleton down to the ground floor.

The north-facing side of the house is versatile: it is mostly completely closed. However, when the residents are present, it can be fully opened. © Federico Cairoli

This clearly divides the 8 x 12 m house into two parts. On the south side, the cyclopean rear of the building contains the kitchen, sanitary facilities, stairs and a small loggia on the upper floor. Meanwhile, the open steel structure covers the terrace and supports the two upper-floor bedrooms. Facing the midday sun to the north, the house can be completely opened up using large folding shutters made of corrugated sheet metal. Simple round timbers serve as rafters on the supports in a regular 4 x 4 m grid. The roof surfaces are covered with corrugated sheet metal on the outside and wooden formwork on the inside.

© Federico Cairoli

At night and when the weather is cooler, the heated interior rooms can be separated from the terrace by sliding glass walls. The different treatment of the two parts of the building — the steel construction is industrially manufactured, while the concrete is handcrafted — is evident in numerous details. For instance, there are two polygonal cut-outs in the concrete facade. One serves as a balcony opening on the upper floor and the other serves as a kitchen window on the entrance side. The two material worlds converge at the barn-like entrance gate, where four large natural stone slabs of the same type as those used in the concrete wall form an oversized door knob.