Homes In Argentina

[French jurist]

If everything goes as planned, I'll start looking for a piece of land next year to build my house according to my blue prints (revised by my mother... an architect... that helps), will move to another province, etc.

Main concern I'll have: making sure I don't get screwed and that everything goes as the way I planned. That means visiting the construction site regularly, in a smart way (can be counterproductive with the workers so better organize a few asados once in a while, etc.), making sure the quality of cement, if applicable, is really the one I'm paying for, etc.

Resale value if an obvious choice: for any house to build, the resale factor is one of the first criterias.
Humidity: really depends in which province you build (less important in Cordoba than in Bs As or Misiones)
Noise levels: depends really about the way the layout of the house
etc.

For me, building my own house will have many aspects:
- Something I've always wished & that I'll finally be making real
- A house mixing different bio aspects to save energy, use different technics (what we call in France a "Canadian well" = a ground based heat exchanger made of PVC tubes inside the soil + possibly a roof garden + hot water pipes on the roof to warm the water + "green" walls, etc.).
- An interesting layout for the rooms (even architects make horrible choices: bathrooms should be really separated from the bathrooms / entrance hall should be really separated from the other rooms / entrance from the parking should be really close to the kitchen / the way the rooms are oriented towards the Sun / etc.).
- Somehow, building my house will be like a creative/artistic action for me.
- The cost (the real & actual cost... Not what I had anticipated) will be a major concern too

As stated above, I'll start this project next year in another province so I still don't know where I'll go (Patagonia, Cordoba, Mendoza, other?). I'll need to be on site to find a piece of land & monitor the construction (still don't know if I'll rent short term... But with 5 dogs it's kind of tricky... or if I'll buy first a really cheap house already built).

A few pics (got more) that I like:

For a chimney in the middle of a room, I like this design (gyrofocus):

For a garden wall:

For a natural pool (filtration is natural):

 

[French jurist]

Kind of house I like (Binimelis house), mixing stone, wood, etc... With a nice view

The "Duplicasa" house is quite amazing too, maybe too original

 

[French jurist]

Crazy stairs (watch for your legs)

Or this kind of house

 

[camino no tomado]

... A house mixing different bio aspects to save energy, use different technics (what we call in France a "Canadian well" = a ground based heat exchanger made of PVC tubes inside the soil ...

That's funny--here in Canada I've never heard it called a "Canadian well" ... but if I ever build another house it will absolutely have geothermal heating and cooling.

Architecture is a bit of a preoccupation for me, so I'd been doing some research on the state of the art in Argentina. This is one site I found with some interesting, if rather flamboyant, examples of modern residential architecture in Argentina: http://www.e-archite...gentina-houses.

But my favourite so far is this considerably more modest example--a 167 square metre home built in Villa Udaondo, BA Province. It was built by a well-known architect couple (former partners in BAK Arquitectos) for themselves. Since it's located in an unfinished development and the homeowners are often away, the design brief stipulated high security without sacrificing light or air (or living in a bunker behind high walls). I really like some of the innovative ways they met that challenge: http://besoniasalmei...sa BA/EN/1.html (click the "+info" for description).

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

When I to be building my own living quarter there in the Grand Argentina, must to be building a house with renewable energy and the Solar panelled house comes to mind. For instance a house seen below would work for me!

 

[johnw100]

We built our house a few years ago, it was the most painful, frustrating and yet rewarding thing we`ve ever done. Its great being able to design it but with inflation and local building ideas conflicting with what we wanted it was a battle to get it all done. Just make sure you get a good builder and Architect who are switched on to new ideas. Ours were a bit more traditional and it complicated matters for building a modern style house.

One website I always enjoyed and used for ideas is the contemporist, this is the Argentina properties link

 

[gpop]

We built our house a few years ago, it was the most painful, frustrating and yet rewarding thing we`ve ever done. Its great being able to design it but with inflation and local building ideas conflicting with what we wanted it was a battle to get it all done. Just make sure you get a good builder and Architect who are switched on to new ideas. Ours were a bit more traditional and it complicated matters for building a modern style house.

One website I always enjoyed and used for ideas is the contemporist, this is the Argentina properties link

I think I'm at the point where I'm psyching myself up to face the inevitable BS of it all.
Sounds like it was worth it once it was all finished?

 

[johnw100]

I think I'm at the point where I'm psyching myself up to face the inevitable BS of it all.
Sounds like it was worth it once it was all finished?

Yes its worth it, but I think it turned me grey doing it.

Luckily we lived in the same block as our construction because we ended up visiting it almost every day to keep an eye on whats going on. The main construction is the easy bit as you let them get on with it and check the rooms and walls /doors/windows are in the right place, its the finishing details, plumbing, electricians,etc that really messes with your head.
Trying to explain to them what you want and then coming back to find they did it all wrong, and then they disappear and you have to pay someone else to fix the problem.

Having to explain to local electricians you`re ideas about putting network or AV cables into the wall and having bizarre "you crazy gringo" looks from them as for example you explain why you want flush remote led lighting around your garden walls when you could have perfectly good Lampara Bajo Consumo sticking out of the wall that does the same job without the hassle,just need to swap the bulbs for frio or calido depending on your mood.
Or a Plumber that thinks its strange to hide all the plumbing behind some wooden custom cabinets with back to wall toilets in our upstairs bathroom when its much easier to raise the floor by 30cm and have an ugly drain in the middle of the room so you can flood it every week to wash the floor.

All I can say is find people who are on the same level to you and your ideas. Ask to visit similar house designs theyve done before and talk to the owners. The local people we talked to were more than happy to show their houses off. Our problem was finding contractors who were good and available. Of all the contractors we used I can only recommend the plasterboarder,metalworker and our 4th plumber . All the others the builders,electricians,tilers,wood workers,first 3 plumbers,etc were hard work dealing with as they didnt understand what we were trying to achieve. And as they say , you can`t teach an old dog new tricks.

But saying that, now its all done its very satisfying and we`re proud of what we achieved. Only small regret is that we let money rule our heads when it came to some of our room dimensions and we reduced room sizes to save costs. Then when you live in the house you realise that areas you thought would be nice to have ie balcony,terraces,etc arnt used as much as you thought they would be and wouldve been better used as interior space. So really nail the design, it took us 6 designs from the architect for us to be happy and even then we wish we`d have done many things differently when its done. But the design of house we chose allowed us to add to its size later on.

oh and another tip, dont do what many people seem to do here and build a nice house and then slap air con units all over the exterior. Do what we did and hide them all in the roof line, invisible from the ground. I see so many nice new houses built and then along come the air conditioning contractors and put a big ugly air con unit on all the outside walls. Its those things you have to plan ahead when theyre constructing the house otherwise its expensive and difficult to fix.

Good luck with it all anyway, its exciting and terrifying at the same time. Bit like having your first baby

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

We built our house a few years ago, it was the most painful, frustrating and yet rewarding thing we`ve ever done. Its great being able to design it but with inflation and local building ideas conflicting with what we wanted it was a battle to get it all done. Just make sure you get a good builder and Architect who are switched on to new ideas. Ours were a bit more traditional and it complicated matters for building a modern style house.

One website I always enjoyed and used for ideas is the contemporist, this is the Argentina properties link

Can you please show the pics of your built house? very interested to view the soul of your imagination!

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

When I to be building my own living quarter there in the Grand Argentina, must to be building a house with renewable energy and the Solar panelled house comes to mind. For instance a house seen below would work for me!

Also if can pull off the "importing things" into Argentina, I may even consider the already pre-made to the Toyota engineered standard such as the Toyota Pre- fabricated Homes.

http://www.treehugge...oes-prefab.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=Toyota+Prefabs+house+construction+videos&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=eDh2U9LZBdDtoATz_4HIAg&ved=0CFEQsAQ&biw=1536&bih=777