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A Bleak Concrete House for the Ages?

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BAK Arquitects have built a family home on sand dunes on the coast of Buenos Aires near the city.

Lit up like a lantern at night, the transparent house looks inviting.

It is an L shaped house with a public wing and a sleeping wing.

Per the clients wishes, it is the utmost in austerity, built entirely in concrete.

The all-concrete kitchen furniture allows for no mistakes or design revisions.

Both the workbench and table surfaces are honed to a high sheen.

A concrete table extended into a dining area off the workbench in the kitchen will never be able to be moved an inch this way or that.

One hopes this concrete built-in furniture won’t go out of style any time soon: concrete structures built in Ancient Rome are still around 20 centuries later.

The utterly plain master bedroom at the end of the L has a private view.

The utmost in simple shelters, even the master bedroom appears to have no way to hang up even one garment.

Only in the bathroom is all the concrete relieved by a splash of color and the contrast of white fixtures.

The red appears to have been a sliding door to the shower.

Outside are two showers for returning beachcombers.

The house is for a couple and their three children.

Each child’s bedroom includes a guest bed to allow friends to stay on extended beach vacations.

The concrete retains the imprint of the wood forms used in casting it.

These huge slabs of cast concrete for walls and roofs are the only structural elements other than glass.