Casa MFQ

Casa MFQ (Marietti Fernandez Quiroga)
Barrio Pueblomío, Maldonado, Uruguay

Architects: ND Estudio (Arq. Nicolas Dellarole y Arq. Ignacio De Cicco) + Arq. Raúl Foster
Colaborator: Arq. Noelia Aguirre
Area: 340 m2
Year: 2022
Construction Company: Petitur
Structural Engineer: Ing. Marcelo Rufino
Landscaping: Alicia Araujo (design), Florencia Sarille and Sebastián Cristaldo (construction)
Heating and air conditioning: Ingeniería del agua
Aluminium windows: Hermac Aluminios
Photographs: Aldo Lanzi
Client: Marietti + Fernández Quiroga
City: Barrio Pueblomío, Manantiales, Maldonado
Country: Uruguay

The single-level house is organized as the articulation of three volumes. Two of them contain the guest house and, separated by a patio, the private areas of the main house. The third volume, placed parallel to the others and connected by the entrance hall, houses the social uses and their corresponding outdoor spaces.

The three volumes are integrated as a whole that seeks to optimize the solar impact while proposing various outdoor situations for family activities. The two private volumes have minimized exposure to the sun in the south facades. Also, the social volume, with a characteristic 45º bend, generates an intimate courtyard garden to one side, and a gathering one to the other.

The main house holds a living and dining space, open concept kitchen, playroom, toilette, laundry with outdoor drying area, two single bedrooms with a shared bathroom, and the main bedroom with an en-suite bathroom. On the outside, next to the kitchen and dining area, there´s a north-facing al fresco space.
The guest house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of them being an en-suite.
The service volume, which is semi-buried near the parking spaces and the kitchen, houses a maid apartment, a storage room, and a toilette for the outdoor area. Its roof, accessible from the al fresco space, works as a viewing deck that overlooks the lagoon.
The three main volumes, with 45º pitched roofs, are built with a mixed system consisting of steel framing and steel deck combined with concrete foundations.

The outside cladding blends with the surroundings, and materials such as lapacho wood and black corrugated metal were used for that purpose. Meanwhile, the interiors become a frame to highlight the surrounding landscape through contrast. The interior flooring is eucalyptus wood and all the walls and ceilings are painted white.
Some elements, such as the flowerbeds and retaining walls, are made of in-situ concrete to further emphasize the connection of the house with the site.

The indoor-outdoor connection was reinforced with the landscape design, planting 1000 new specimens of various plants and trees in an articulate manner.