House Mat by Mutar in Garzón, Uruguay

Project: House Mat
Architects: Mutar
Location: Garzón, Uruguay
Area: 1,291 sq ft
Photography: Marcos Guiponi

House Mat by Mutar

Mutar designed an impressive modern home in a beautiful setting in Garzón, Uruguay. This single-story house named House Mat is surrounded by calming natural landscapes and creates around 1,300 square feet of modern living spaces with an emphasis on natural light.

Oriented Territory

The house is located on a flat terrain with an open and rich landscape. It's positioned so its widest view faces the existing natural water reservoir. This arrangement creates a challenge for opening views to the south. Therefore, the large roof covering most of the rooms has a strong slope, creating double height at the north for better solar exposure and minimal height at the south framing the landscape.

Constructive Materiality

The house is designed with a constructive logic consisting of five sections. A mix between two load-bearing systems serves as the structural model, responding to various domestic situations and experiences.

On one side, a wooden structure made from specific elements forms an external skeleton allowing for various situations ( pergola – terrace platform – flower beds). This same structure continues to form the slope of the roof, accommodating more flexible programs (bedroom – gallery – office – living room – barbecue area).

On the other side, a wet system of concrete blocks appears with a flat roof to contain more specific program packages (bathroom – storage – platform – kitchen).

Sequence Through Sections

The first section forms the bedroom, representing the smallest possible habitable cell. Its morphology responds to a space with a sloped wooden roof, and its connection to the bathroom is through storage.

The second section allows for two possible entrances via a semi-closed route aimed at creating transitional spaces. A narrow passage with solid walls frames the landscape, while a transparent corrugated polycarbonate roof allows light to enter from above.

The next section has the greatest depth. Here, a gallery appears as an intermediate space and connects to the platform room via a window. This area contains folding panels that allow integration with the rest of the house or closure for greater privacy and function as a guest room. Finally, through the bathroom as a balloon, the platform room appears as the only space with views different from others. It contains a large wooden platform to support mattresses in various ways.

The fourth section houses the common areas of the house: living room, dining area and kitchen. On the south side, a continuous wooden bench frames the landscape. The kitchen is integrated as a bar located within the thickness of a flat-roofed wall. Wooden columns define this area, distributing three functional modules necessary for its operation.

The final modification repeats the sloped roof structure with a transparent roof to install a semi-closed barbecue area. The platform extends towards the open landscape, bordered by a specific structure serving as support for potential future fences.

–Mutar