Nagus House

Córdoba, Argentina – IASE Arquitectos

Built Area: 345.0 m2
Year Built: 2018
Photographs: Gonzalo Viramonte

Nagus House is a private residence designed with an interesting focal element. The architect determined a jump off point for the design process – Detrás del Árbol, or Behind the Tree. Wanting the tree to act as a ‘welcoming host’, it’s the very first thing that greets guests before entering the house.

The huge tree at the front of the house was framed in such a way that it became a prominent fixture. Covering a portion of the sublevel garage, it acts as a canopy and provides shade to the area.

The house was designed into three levels to address the uneven nature of the land. The functional layout allows flexibility of the spaces. This is to answer the homeowners’ brief of creating areas that combine private and social life.

The inside of Nagus House is warm, relaxing, and bright. Generous amounts of natural light filter in through large glass windows while the high ceiling ensures proper ventilation. The dark floors contrast with white walls, as earth-toned hues complete the home’s laid-back ambiance.

Notes from the Architect:

The words “Behind the Tree” was the starting point for the house, which we thought should include this tree as a front host at the entrance of the house, but in a framed and protected manner, as a protagonist, not only for the visitor or passerby, but also for the interior and the daily life of the inhabitants.

Each new project for the studio is a challenge to interpret the needs and living requirements of the commissioners.

NAGUS, a nickname we chose for the young couple that hired us, aimed to combine the social and private use of the house developed in one single level, articulated both by the everyday use, as well as incorporating daily professional activities in a separated sector, within a flexible space that can be transformed according to each necessity.

Therefore, on a plot of a thousand square meters, with a front bounded by its irregularity and regulations, we developed the project on three levels.

A sub-level consisting of a covered garage for three vehicles, with an entrance ramp that also serves as additional parking space with the tree shading and protecting the ramp, storage and future wine cellar in a semi-covered manner. A ground floor, with social and private areas integrated with the green space of the exterior and a top floor for a study office and a multi-use playroom which in a secluded way overlooks the social space of the house and integrates into the exterior with windows and overhead skylights in the ceiling.

The functional plan is distributed by means of an area that contains the private sectors of the house with direct access to the service facilities, which are located strategically towards the less favourable orientation of the house. In this way, a linear and proportioned internal circulation is achieved in a nucleus manner.

The space of daily use is fused with a more intimate patio that houses the tree and is disconnected and connected with the social space with sliding panels that disappear behind a piece of support furniture. The hierarchy of the social space is perceived due to the double hight of the space, but also due to its dimensions, when it is completely opened up and expanded to the gallery.

The formal study originates from the articulation of pure volumes, emphasized by the crevices in the roofs and cavities for an adequate gain of natural light and cross ventilation. 

The image starts with a concept always associated with each site in particular, with the line of modernity as a fundamental axis for the studio, pursuing a warm and rustic architecture that fuses with the existing vegetation by the use of wood coatings, solid materials such as stone and exposed concrete in the base,  and steel providing lightness and simplicity to certain details. 

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Exterior Views:

Interior Views:

Drawing Views:

If you want to see more of Argentinean architecture, check out AYYA House…