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Architects: Esteras Perrote
- Area: 330 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Juan Cruz Paredes
Text description provided by the architects. The experience of reinhabiting a space, of recovering, of building upon what has already been built. Experiencing the transformative power of architecture and its beauty in the collective process of transformation. Insisting on living in the center, rethinking the city. Valuing a structure, paying homage to time and space. Understanding history to be part of it.
City. We imagine re-inhabiting the center; we set out to think about our workspace and, at the same time, the city we live in. We encountered intense streets, a significant flow of people, transportation, and vehicles. The coexistence of programs and people, green spaces, civic, educational, commercial, and residential areas. We came across the presence of the city: La Cañada with its tipa trees, Paseo Sobremonte with its abundant vegetation and fountains, the municipal building with its iconic architecture, Intendencia Square, the palatial architecture, and numerous major modern and contemporary interventions. Sequences the city gives back to us as we move through it, recreating our path, contributing to doing and thinking. Being here is a choice, an insistence on recovering part of the urban fabric and, from there, building what is to come. A place that gathers, groups, and enables. That opens its doors to the public to pay homage to the space.
Location. A110 is located in the central area of the city of Córdoba, Argentina, on Miguel Calixto del Corro Street, just meters from La Cañada stream, Paseo Sobremonte, the Córdoba City Hall, and the Palace of Justice. Situated within an urban fabric with steady consolidation, the area is surrounded by public facilities, shops, and collective residences. With narrow sidewalks and a narrow street, the three-story building is oriented east-west, where the program unfolds through a series of patios that provide light and ventilation to all its spaces.
Preexistence. This house, built at the beginning of the 20th century, has undergone various interventions over time. Initially, the property consisted of two levels: a residence on the ground floor and another on the upper floor. In the 1940s, the property was acquired, and the first intervention was made, which involved expanding the upper-floor residence by adding a third level. To accommodate this addition, a staircase was built that would become a defining feature and the main focal point of the house's central space. With a layout of 110 square meters per floor, the residential programs were organized around two interspersed patios to allow light and air to flow through. Facing the street, a marble base supports a white façade. Inside, thick walls, high ceilings painted white, and wooden floors define the space's identity. The vertical circulation is elegantly resolved with marble steps that extend the street into the first floor, culminating in a spiral staircase that leads to the top level.
Heritage. Over the years, the house ceased to serve as a residence and began to host other uses, which altered its essence until it reached an advanced state of deterioration. After being closed for several years, the challenge was to restore it to its original condition and revitalize it to transform it into our design studio.
Recovery. The work involved imagining what this house once was, gathering information, and restoring walls, openings, and floors to bring it back to its original state. The goal was to achieve the original condition as a platform for subtly intervening according to current needs. Like a blank canvas, the intention and purpose were to pay homage to space and time. After the arduous task of restoring the carpentry, openings, floors, and walls, we began interventions to connect certain spaces, aiming to create a greater flow between the interior and the exterior of the building.
Intervention. As part of the new design language, the proposal seeks to ensure a fluid relationship between the building's interior and the street. A framework of metal frames and meshes, whose modulation and construction respond to the assembly process, also allows for the appropriation of vegetation. This lightweight metal structure on the façade along Miguel Calixto del Corro Street aims to create an intermediary space between the public and private realms—a filter that houses plants, gradually taking up space and gaining prominence. Given its location on a street with heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic, as well as the noise and environmental factors of the built surroundings, this space becomes essential for the interior’s habitability, helping to mitigate the lack of urban greenery. This in-between space defines the intervention and becomes the building's primary design language.
