Senderos House is a compact dwelling embedded within the dune landscape of Costa Esmeralda on the Atlantic coast of Argentina. The project addresses an irregular site and marked topography through a restrained architectural system that prioritizes spatial clarity, environmental continuity, and a close relationship between domestic life and the surrounding forest.
Senderos House Technical Information
- Architects: Besonías Almeida arquitectos
- Location: Costa Esmeralda, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Gross Area: 167 m2 | 1,797 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2023 – 2025
- Photographs: © Hernán de Almeida
We understand architecture as a framework that allows the landscape to enter the domestic space, where light, topography, and material define how the house is lived.
– María Victoria Besonías
Project Context and Site Conditions
The house is located in a coastal environment defined by sand dunes, native grasslands, and a mix of young and established trees, including acacias and maritime pines. The surrounding forest is not treated as a scenic backdrop but as a determining factor in the placement and fragmentation of the built volume. Existing vegetation and a nearby forest reservoir establish both visual depth and ecological constraints that inform the project’s boundaries.
The plot’s circular-sector geometry introduces a spatial compression at the access point, with a 12-meter-wide frontage that gradually opens to over 50 meters toward the rear. This condition encourages a building strategy that unfolds longitudinally, aligning views and circulation with the expanding site rather than confronting it symmetrically.
Topographically, the land presents a sequence of depressions and rises, including an abrupt slope toward the reservoir. Rather than leveling the terrain, the design accepts these variations, positioning the house as a series of calibrated platforms that trace the dune’s natural profile. This approach minimizes earth movement and allows the architecture to remain secondary to the landscape.
Programmatic Organization and Spatial Logic
The domestic program is structured to accommodate both private family use and temporary occupation, requiring a balance between autonomy and shared experience. Three bedroom units, each with independent facilities, are separated into distinct volumes, allowing multiple groups to inhabit the house simultaneously without spatial overlap.
At the center of the composition, a unified social space integrates living, dining, and kitchen functions. This area operates as the primary point of contact with the exterior, opening directly onto outdoor living areas and the forest beyond. Its spatial continuity emphasizes collective use while maintaining strong visual connections to the surrounding terrain.
Private and collective zones are articulated through subtle changes in level, orientation, and enclosure. Courtyards and directional openings establish gradations of privacy, allowing the bedrooms to engage the landscape through framed views while remaining acoustically and visually protected from the more active social core.
Material Strategy and Constructive Approach
Exposed concrete is employed as the sole architectural material, forming structure, enclosure, and fixed furnishings in a continuous system. This decision reinforces formal restraint and reduces the need for surface finishes that would require ongoing maintenance in a humid, saline coastal environment.
The material’s weight and mineral character anchor the house to the dune, counterposing the shifting nature of sand and vegetation. Concrete surfaces are untreated, allowing weathering to register over time and visually align the building with the muted tones of the forest floor and trunks.
By limiting the palette, the project avoids compositional excess and emphasizes constructional clarity. Structural logic remains legible throughout, supporting an architecture that privileges synthesis over accumulation and spatial coherence over expressive detailing.
Circulation, Landscape Integration, and Light
Access is provided by a sloping concrete bridge spanning the initial depression in the terrain, preserving existing vegetation and establishing a gradual transition from ground to dwelling. This element also defines a semi-covered parking area beneath, integrating service functions without introducing additional volumes.
From the point of entry, circulation paths diverge toward social interiors, outdoor amenities, and the broader landscape. These routes are conceived as extensions of the site’s natural gradients, reinforcing a continuous movement between interior spaces and exterior clearings rather than abrupt thresholds.
Natural light is treated as a design instrument rather than a secondary consideration. Openings are precisely positioned as perforations in the concrete mass, complemented by pergolas and skylights that temper direct sunlight. Throughout the day, shifting light conditions animate interior surfaces and frame selective views of the forest, establishing a spatial rhythm tied closely to the surrounding environment.
About María Victoria Besonías and Guillermo de Almeida
María Victoria Besonías and Guillermo de Almeida are architects whose collaborative practice centers on residential projects that engage closely with landscape, topography, and natural light. Their work emphasizes material restraint, particularly the use of exposed concrete, and a design approach in which structure, enclosure, and atmosphere are conceived as a unified system, allowing architecture to act as a framework for everyday life within its environmental context.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Construction Company: René Mamani Construcciones
- Architects: María Victoria Besonías, Guillermo de Almeida
- Collaborating Architects: Micaela Salibe, Gisela Giovanetti; Hernán de Almeida
- Photography: Hernán de Almeida
