Tríptico Building | Mariela Marchisio + Cristián Nanzer + Germán Margherit

Triptych: 1 plot, 3 houses, multiple spaces for different times. Tríptico Building is a micro-density trial of 3 houses/studios paired, on a conventional lot in the Ducasse neighborhood, on the northern outskirts of the central area of the city of Córdoba, very close to the Suquía River and Las Heras Park, a traditionally commercial sector linked to the sale of spare parts and supplies for vehicles of all kinds, which today is in the midst of urban transformation.

The site where the building is located is 10 m in front and 25.70 m in depth, that is to say, a small and typical neighborhood plot between party walls. The typological concept of the project is based on three vertical houses, not stacked but attached to each other along their side boundaries, all with double ventilation, with collective garages, private patios and balconies, and a terrace for communal recreation. The floors of the dwellings have a very small equivalent width of 3.13 m in their interior dimension, which is compensated by their large longitudinal development of 18 m. The reinforced concrete structure determines both the width and the width of the building. The reinforced concrete structure determines both the expression of the building and the typological character of the whole so that the segregation of uses is given by the different levels linked by the stair system of each unit, from zero to the terrace. The verticality of the typology makes it possible to dispense with interior dividers, which will be installed, if necessary, at the request of the users’ needs, or with the incorporation of mobile equipment.

The project is conceived from the section, with an unusual layout for the logic of a conventional house, as the study/workspace is located on the ground floor, in relation to the access to the building and to a small courtyard, which in some cases operates as a possible children’s play area or sporadic barbecue area; on the second level is the space for two possible en suite bedrooms, but also adaptable as a place of work if the modality of use should require it. On the third level, with double-height, is the living, kitchen, and leisure space, with balconies and access to the upper terrace, which serves as the common courtyard of the complex, with the incentive of the views of the urban skyline of the city center and to the west, the remoteness of the hills.

Four longitudinal concrete partitions four levels high define the “bars” of the three vertical spaces of each unit. On the façade, an inverted beam with a span of 10 meters, from party wall to party wall, allows a sector of the 2 central partitions not to reach the ground, thus freeing up the space reserved for the 3 garages and the hall, creating an open space at the entrance; this space, when the vehicles are removed, becomes a space for sporadic social events for the inhabitants of the consortium.

The north façade is materialized with a metal structure enclosed with galvanized woven wire mesh, which is covered with deciduous vines, mainly wisteria, which grows out of a continuous reinforced concrete box, taking advantage of the inverted 10-meter-long beam of the façade. The whole building is a typological essay on densification in a degraded neighborhood area, but with a strategic location in relation to the services of the city center and the linear park of the Suquía river. A building that does not deny some revisited Japanese precedents, such as the beautiful houses of Waro Kishi in Tokyo, but translated with South American eyes and hands.

Project Info

Architects: Cristián Nanzer, Germán Margherit, Mariela Marchisio
Area: 514 m²
Year: 2019
Country: Córdoba, Argentina
Photographs: Gonzalo Viramonte
Manufacturers: Aluvicor, Fabián Aimar e Hijos, Hormi – Block S. A.
Lead Architects: Mariela Marchisio, Cristián Nanzer, Germán Margherit
Structural Engineering: Edgard Morán
Contractor: Adrián Molina, S. Heredia
Smithy: Luis Herrera, Diego Herrera
Joinery: Aluvicor
Aluminum Work: Fabián Aimar e Hijos