Pontoporia House by Ezequiel Rivarola & Clorindo Testa

This house designed by Ezequiel Rivarola in collaboration with Clorindo Testa is located in Mar del Sur, next to a cliff in a very peculiar spot in the Argentinian coast. The project starts from the relationship between a clear geometrical shape –like an artificial rock on the ground- and the irregular landscape on which it is built. The cube resembles the geological formations of the area.

The house opens progressively to the sea from the ground floor to the upper floors, thus the connection with the exterior in some spaces is more restrained (as in ground floor) and then the house opens up in the upper floors. Interior inhabitation is privileged as a shelter in a severe climate, seeking to protect the inhabitants from the steady wind.

The focus of the design was on the interior as shelter due to the severe coastal climate. The interior design spatial is generated from simple geometric shapes that with complex operations produce different opening degrees to the wind, the sights, the sun and the activities. The bedrooms and a common area are placed in the ground floor, while social areas such as dining room, living room and kitchen are placed on the upper floor.

Ezequiel Rivarola