A striking contemporary residence called Casa BP has been completed by architect Santiago Bertotti on an elevated site overlooking the rural landscape of Córdoba, Argentina. The home's strategic positioning takes advantage of the land's natural rise, with its minimalist design responding thoughtfully to the gently sloping terrain. The residence is configured as an elongated structure surrounded by carefully planned gardens, creating unobstructed panoramic views across the expansive countryside.
Bertotti's design approach centers on two distinct formal strategies that define the project's character. The main house presents itself as a monolithic element featuring earth-toned walls that create an opaque, inward-looking presence. Adjacent to this primary structure, a lighter secondary pavilion showcases large windows and horizontal sun-shading elements that control natural light while reinforcing the project's contemporary aesthetic.
The architect has organized the home's social areas as a single continuous space that seamlessly integrates living, dining, and kitchen functions. This unified area opens directly onto a longitudinal gallery that runs parallel to the main volume, creating a fluid connection between interior and exterior spaces. The gallery's generous width and strategic orientation allow daily activities to extend naturally toward the surrounding landscape, with interior life flowing effortlessly outward.
The residence's private quarters occupy the right side of the floor plan, where bedrooms are positioned behind a linear corridor that benefits from the thermal mass of the exterior walls. Window openings along this facade have been carefully calibrated to filter daylight while maintaining consistent interior climate conditions and preserving a sense of privacy and retreat for residents.
One of the home's most remarkable features is how the pigmented walls change appearance throughout the day in response to natural lighting conditions. At sunrise, the walls take on warm pink undertones, gradually deepening into richer ochre hues as evening approaches. Under overcast skies, they appear as a muted, matte surface that creates a subtle dialogue with the changing weather patterns.
The secondary pavilion stands slightly separated from the main structure, distinguished by its metal frame and expansive glass surfaces that give it a notably lighter architectural profile. Sun-shading elements integrated into this pavilion create shifting patterns of light and shadow throughout the day, with this detached structure complementing the heavier primary volume while adding a more transparent spatial layer to the overall composition.
The surrounding landscape features native plant species arranged in a naturalistic pattern across the terrain. Local grasses, herbaceous plants, and indigenous shrubs form an organic field that helps blend the house seamlessly with its broader environmental context. This landscaping approach extends the natural serrano ecosystem throughout the site, creating a smooth transition between the built architecture and the natural ground plane.
A linear swimming pool positioned directly alongside the gallery introduces a reflective water surface that echoes the residence's geometric discipline and reinforces the project's horizontal emphasis. The pool's slim profile establishes a calm visual relationship with the surrounding vegetation while strengthening the overall linear character of the design.
Material selection plays a crucial role in defining Casa BP's architectural clarity and environmental responsiveness. The main volume features pigmented cement-rendered walls with a handcrafted mineral finish that provides chromatic unity and creates a notable tactile presence. Along the gallery, solid-wood structural elements appear as irregularly spaced columns beneath a continuous slatted ceiling, grounding the circulation area with natural warmth and visual rhythm.
The complementary pavilion utilizes black metal and glass to define its envelope, with adjustable louvers that regulate sunlight throughout the day. Each material has been specifically chosen for its climatic performance, supporting an architectural approach that responds closely to Córdoba's environmental conditions and seasonal variations.
The residence emerges as a deliberate architectural intervention across the landscape, presenting an opaque and contained facade toward the street while opening up with transparency and permeability toward the panoramic views. The composition achieves a precise balance between solid planes and transparent surfaces, creating a structure that appears massive along its blind street facade yet visually light and open along its gallery spaces facing the countryside.
