When architects build without a commission, things usually get exciting. Then they design for themselves. For example, their own house. They do it entirely according to their own wishes. This is what the Argentinian architect Malvína Zayat did. In a hilly landscape in the jungle of Salsipuedes near Córdoba, the second largest city in Argentina, her family home now stands for her, her husband and her two children. Malvína Zayat has designed a house that is suitable for families and also conserves resources. Zayat’s house in the clouds is also a structural solitaire in a unique landscape that is not easy to build on.
North façade with closed panels that serve as light and wind protection. The house in the clouds thus stands as a closed rectangular cube in the wild landscape. Photo: © Arq. Gonzalo Viramonte, Courtesy Malvína Zayat Architecture.
The coup: skillfully well-used hillside location
Malvína Zayat built the house in the clouds with an area of around 100 square meters on a rectangular floor plan. The long side faces north. Access to the house is via a cobblestone road that extends below the house. The building site is not flat, it is rather hilly. Due to the hillside location, there are height differences to overcome. This meant that the planning was complex for Malvína Zayat and the construction was costly compared to building a house on level ground. Malvína Zayat did not see this as a real obstacle, but rather as a challenge to redefine space. In the space between the ground and the house foundation, which would only have been filled by the supporting structure, Malvína Zayat placed nine water tanks that can be used as reservoirs. Rainwater flows over the sloping roof of the house through pipes into these tanks, which can hold up to 18,000 liters. These quantities are essential for a house without running water. This architectural concept also counteracts the water shortage in Argentina. There is a pronounced rainy season in summer, from November to March, with maximum rainfall in December. Winter, on the other hand, is so dry that water shortages can occur in many places in its late phase. With a reservoir of almost 20,000 liters of water, you are on the safe side.
Photo: © Arq. Gonzalo Viramonte, Courtesy Malvína Zayat Architecture
North façade with open panels (light and wind protection). The house in the clouds opens up to the untouched landscape.
Photo: © Arq. Gonzalo Viramonte, Courtesy Malvína Zayat Architecture
View from above of the vast primary landscape with floating architecture.
Rising from the earth into the air
The owner’s private parking lot and a child-friendly courtyard lead to the entrances to the single-storey residential building via a staircase and the northern gallery of the terrace. The corridor to the communal rooms, i.e. the kitchen and living room, is designed as a scenographic spatial experience: When the light falls, the sun paints the vermilion wood paneling into a red room lock, a transformation channel from the outside to the inside, so to speak. The living room, which is glazed to the north and west, offers a sweeping view of the Salsipuedes landscape. The entire house is organized as a linear space. It is 18.5 meters long and 5.5 meters wide. All the needs of a family of four were taken into account in the planning: There is space to play and work inside and in the open spaces. Light and ventilation come from above, and the large social area with a view of the landscape is spatially separated from the private area, which consists of two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Photo: © Arq. Gonzalo Viramonte, Courtesy Malvína Zayat Architecture.
View from the kitchen across the living room to the terrace in the Valley of Salsipuedes.
Photo: © Arq. Gonzalo Viramonte, Courtesy Malvína Zayat Architecture.
The vermilion wood-paneled room lock leads from the wild outside to the social inside.
Efficient mix of building systems
The choice of materials and the construction method used for Malvína Zayat’s design resulted from a site study. The great unevenness of the terrain, its nature, thermal amplitudes, the lack of flowing water, the surrounding vegetation and the altitude of the site meant that the construction system is predominantly dry. In dry construction, space-defining but non-load-bearing components are installed by joining together industrially manufactured semi-finished products. As a rule, panel-shaped components are joined by nailing, screwing, plugging or gluing. This eliminates the need for water-based building materials such as mortar, clay, concrete or plaster. Dry construction is an assembly and lightweight construction method that flexibly and modularly fulfills the physical building requirements in terms of heat, cold, sound, fire, moisture and impact resistance. It is generally cost-effective. Malvína Zayat had a system of metal profiles put together, which were brought to the construction site one after the other for assembly. The parts arrived ready for assembly, the main structure, the secondary structure, then the horizontal and vertical enclosure panels. Only the foundations and the mezzanine slab had to be built differently – these were the only details that were produced on site using the wet process.
Light and wind protection becomes façade design
A system of foldable panels absorbs the wind and filters the sunlight from the west in summer. From the outside, the building has a clear geometry made from a single material. On the northern side, this construction of movable metal panels appears as a kind of light veil; to the south, the façade is compact with white sheet metal panels. The light, floating, bright form of the house in the clouds is intended to be in an intimate dialog with the sky and the clouds above the landscape. Malvína Zayat has chosen a different material language for the interior. Warm eucalyptus wood sets the tone here, used for ceilings, walls, doors and furniture. Wall cupboards provide closed surfaces, the furnishings are reduced and classically pragmatic. Everything is there, but nothing is too much. The house in the clouds also has a pleasantly light feel inside.