Casa Moro by TAM Arquitectura
Casa Moro is a house located in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Designed by TAM Arquitectura, it features a striking blend of a wavy concrete mantle and a reflective floating volume, harmonising with its natural forested surroundings. This design style is emphasised by the creation of a central courtyard that serves as the heart of the home, alongside a verdant terrace that enhances the organic feel of the property.
Respect For Nature
Feeling the forest, the birds, the atmosphere of living among the trees, sitting under their shade, listening to the leaves rustling on windy days.
Materiality
The void already existed. We did not find “emptiness”. From a physical perspective, the void was real—a measurable and observable space. This void was shaped by the land’s natural undulations and the trees that defined its boundaries.
First, we laid a wavy concrete mantle, blending it with the terrain and covering it with vegetation. Most of the program lies beneath this structure. This operation makes the mass disappear, preventing any impact on the existing void or urban space.
Then, completing the composition and floating in the void, we placed a reflective box—a form that interacts with and multiplies nature.
The placement of these two elements—the green mantle and the reflective box—frames the void, preserving spatial continuity from the street to the green core. They create a habitable space, a spatial promenade with dynamic tensions leading to a central access point atop the mantle.
System
Under the concrete mantle, an open-plan space was created, featuring a central courtyard—the heart of the house, sheltered from street views.
Beyond the courtyard, a fluid wooden volume was strategically positioned beneath the mantle, defining and organizing all functions through its relationship with the edges. It separates public from private areas, served from servant spaces.
Above the mantle, a green terrace protects the lower level, restoring the occupied surface and transforming it into a natural space.
The floating box functions almost as a second home—a minimal guest house with a living-dining area, bedroom, bathroom, and small kitchen. From here, one experiences a different perspective, being among the tree canopies.
Research
Quoting Jorge Oteiza: “The work is the active unoccupying of space through the fusion of light formal units. Space is a place, whether occupied or not. But an unoccupied place is not the void. The void is obtained; it results from a formal absence. The void is made—it does not exist a priori.”
Volumes do not exist for their own sake; they define the void. They create an unoccupied space where mass disappears.
The void is not absence but the organizing force that gives meaning to the spatial arrangement. These elements carve hollowed-out spaces within nature, actively unoccupying space through the fusion of interdependent volumes.
Photography by ObraLinda
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