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    Hitzig Militello sets restaurant within historic Buenos Aires home

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    Repurposed materials and decadent accents come together in this Buenos Aires restaurant and bar that fits within a historic house overhauled by local studio Hitzig Militello Architects.

    Named Moshu Treehouse, the restaurant was built within a two-storey home in the Palermo neighbourhood, near the architecture studio’s main office.
    Moshu features raw materials and playful accentsThe neighbourhood is one of the older areas of the city and has a wealth of existing structures such as this one.
    According to the architecture studio, traditionally, these Argentinian houses are built around a courtyard, which becomes the main gathering area for socialising.
    Hitzig Militello designed the restaurant in Buenos AiresHitzig Militello Architects wanted to replicate this experience by creating a new courtyard area at the entrance that preserves the original facade of the home.

    In addition to marking the arrival into the restaurant, this feature is intended to facilitate carry-out orders and outdoor dining.
    A local Moshu tree planted in the courtyard gave the project its name.
    It features both indoor and outdoor dining”Our first major design strategy was to create an access courtyard immediately adjacent to the facade as both a symbol and shock effect,” said Hitzig Militello Architects.
    This new access courtyard allows visitors to enter the restaurant in two different ways: into the primary courtyard or up a set up stairs to access the second floor.
    “This allowed for a new facade with a language of its own, the core idea behind it being the preservation of the old style of the main facade,” it added.
    The facade is made up of a grid of windows with wooden shuttersPart of the courtyards facade is made up of a grid of windows with wooden shutters, which also cover the entrance to the indoor aspect of the restaurant. These are operable and can be opened up to capture the breeze, or closed in bad weather.
    They are slightly angled and offset from one another, creating a dynamic and irregular composition.

    Hitzig Militello Arquitectos combines two homes in one building in Buenos Aires

    The restaurant itself is laid out on two levels, with a cocktail bar upstairs and a terrace at the back of the building. The interiors preserve many of the raw finishes from the existing home.
    “The interior architecture language is one of vernacular composition of the typical demolished industrial style,” they explained. “Surrounding them is a run-down, abandoned house where the dry vegetation has taken over,” they added.
    Accent walls made of different sizes of tubes that form an archwayHitzig Militello Architects also added some playful features to the interiors, such as accent walls made of different sizes of tubes that form an archway.
    The ground floor contains a bar, and a variety of dining rooms set up inside or within small courtyards exposed to the sky.
    Upstairs is a large, decadent barIn total, the restaurant offers 240 square metres of interior space and 90 square metres uncovered.
    Upstairs is a larger bar, which spills out onto a terrace overlooking the front of the building.
    It spills out onto a terraceAn exterior stair leads from this upper patio directly to the street-facing entrance. Depending on the restaurant’s hours of operation, the upper floor can be reserved privately for events.
    Hitzig Militello Architects was founded in 2006 and also has offices in Miami.
    Buenos Aires has seen a number of renovations and additions to its existing building stock. Other examples include a home from the 1930s that underwent a “subtle” renovation by Torrado Arquitectos, and a self-designed office by Studio Nu that is set within a former auto mechanic’s shop.
    The photography is by Federico Kulekdjian.
    Project credits:Concept design: Arch. Vanik Margossian, Arch. Dolores GayosoConstruction documents: Arch. Vanik MargossianManagement: Arch. Marcela Bernat, Arch. Vanik Margossian

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      Torrado Arquitectos carries out subtle renovation of 1930s Buenos Aires house

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      Argentinian studio Torrado Arquitectos has used material that match the original home for its renovation of House in Barrio Parque in Buenos AiresThe local studio renovated and reconfigured the property, which was completed in 1938 by architect Alberto Rodriguez Etchetoc, but aimed to change the appearance as little as possible.

      Top: The house is on a corner plot in the city. Above: House in Barrio Parque has fresh white walls.
      “The aesthetic concept of imitating is known as mimesis, in which the imitation cannot be compared to the original, on the contrary, it becomes its equivalent,” said Torrado Arquitectos.

      “It is within this frame of work that the renovation and extension of the House in Barrio Parque was planned,” it continued.
      “The addition of new bedrooms, the new circulation and the relocation of service areas blend with the original project, at times completely disappearing.”

      Arched opening leads to garden
      The house is one of two properties built on a corner plot in the Argentinian capital city, giving it an unusual triangular footprint. Two spiral staircases lead up its three floors: one has stone steps while the other has wooden treads.
      Reddish brick forms the exterior, while inside its tall walls are updated with fresh white paint coating tiles and prominent skirting and cornice moulding.

      The main intervention is wood cabinets
      Decorative details include the insertion of glass that is cut to match the ceiling trim so it is difficult to see, and also allows natural light between spaces.
      New materials, including wood veneer and marble flooring, were also chosen to match the existing finishes.

      Windows meet the ornate ceiling detail
      “There is almost no difference in the materials chosen for the renovation,” the studio added.
      “Few new materials were used, the veneer chosen for the furniture and divisions and the travertino marble with a rustic finish for the floors, all blend with the white stucco and the Slavonian oak wooden floor already existent.”

      Modernist furniture alludes to the house’s history
      Torrado Arquitectos said it did make two big interventions in the project: “only two sectors in the kitchen and the dressing room, completely built with wooden panels, are a proper renovation, the rest is a work of invisible conservation and restoration, mimesis of a longed past”.

      Estudio Nu retrofits creative studios in former Buenos Aires workshop

      Wood kitchen cabinetry is paired with marble splashback and limestone flooring in the kitchen. An arched window with doors that open onto the back garden where there is a seating deck and a small pool.

      Wooden herringbone flooring on an upper level
      Storage in the dressing room is also paired with the limestone, which extends to form walls of the bathroom and shower.
      In the adjoining living room and dining room wood herringbone flooring offsets white walls, while modernist furniture allude to the building’s history.

      Wood cabinets are paired with limestone flooring in the dressing room
      Other recently completed residential projects in Buenos Aires include the extension of a courtyard house designed by Hernan Landolfo and Marcos Asa and a small apartment that IR Arquitectura created from a leftover corner of a 1950s building.
      Photography is by Javier Agustin Rojas.
      Project credits:
      Project and design: Torrado ArquitectosProject team: Martin Torrado, Architect Ligia Gaffuri, Architect Gonzalo Yerba, Architect Leandro Valdivieso, Architect Mora Linares

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