Casa Clausura by Agustin Lozada
Casa Clausura sits in Mendiolaza, Argentina, as a single-family house by Agustín Lozada. The project resists suburban habits, settling low on the site and turning its back on the punishing western exposure. Instead of spectacle, the plan collects rooms around an inward courtyard with a pool, privileging light, shade, and privacy over frontage. It reads as a measured reply to its setting, quiet in posture yet exacting in intent.
A low roofline meets the sidewalk, then recedes. The ground rises in a gentle mound, and the house settles behind it, giving the trees and mountains the stage.
This single-family house in Mendiolaza by Agustín Lozada orients itself to climate and context, not frontage. The project rejects suburban elevation and front-loaded garages in favor of a low stance, northeast light, and an inward courtyard that concentrates daily life.
Settle Into Terrain
The volume rests on the flattest part of the plot. Rather than cut or crown the site, the mass follows existing contours, letting a street-formed mound shape the public face.
From the sidewalk, only the roofline reads, keeping a clear visual band toward trees and distant hills. The architecture recedes—its presence measured by restraint and careful ground contact.
Screen West Sun
Córdoba’s west light is unforgiving in the afternoon. The house turns away from those views, trading spectacle for inhabitability and a calm interior climate.
Openings seek the northeast, drawing soft morning light and timely shade across living areas. This orientation sets the tone: comfort first, with glazing and apertures placed to reduce heat gain while still pulling in daylong brightness.
Live Around Void
Privacy is scarce in lateral-opening suburban lots. Here, a protected, inward-facing courtyard becomes the nucleus of the plan, concentrating domestic life around a pool and cooled air.
Rooms extend into this open void, allowing outdoor inhabitation with refuge and quiet. As in rural precedents, the center isn’t a room but an absence charged with presence (the patio gathers light, air, and routine).
Reroute the Car
The car no longer dictates the front elevation. Vehicular access moves to the rear, wrapping along the perimeter and freeing the street edge from driveways and parked silhouettes.
Edges soften to admit turning radii, and the building mass yields where movement requires it. A grounded concrete form results—weight held low, geometry folding and giving to choreograph approach and daily loops.
Hold the Street, Keep the Home
Public and private settle into a clear pact. The city sees a quiet roofline and a planted rise, while the household keeps light, water, and air close at hand.
In the end, the project trades swagger for belonging. Shade, orientation, and an inward court do the heavy lifting, allowing the house to root itself without fuss and to endure the climate with grace.
Photography by Federico Cairoli
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