This inexperienced retreat in Paraguay is impressed by jazz

Some may discover it onerous to see how jazz, a music style originating in New Orleans and incorporating swing notes, complicated chords and improvisation, would have a lot to do with structure, the artwork and strategy of designing and constructing. But these two have way more in frequent than it appears, from rhythm and texture all the best way to concord, proportions and dynamics – a lot in order that Goethe even as soon as famously described structure as ‘frozen music’.

However there may be nothing frozen about Equipo de Arquitectura’s ‘A Forest within the Home’, a undertaking accomplished in 2025 in San Bernardino, on the shores of Paraguay’s Ypacarai Lake. Vivid and breezy, the 260 sq m retreat is impressed partly by its architects Horacio Cherniavsky and Viviana Pozzoli’s ardour for jazz, an affect evident in the home’s format, which riffs on different patterns of stable and void, resembling the notes and pauses of a musical rating.

Enter this inexperienced Paraguay retreat

‘There’s a profound similarity between structure and music, within the preliminary strategy of composition,’ argue the architects, who co-founded Equipo de Arquitectura in 2017. ‘Though music is probably the most summary artwork type and structure is the alternative, the best way wherein each disciplines are composed shares many factors in frequent.’

The pair liken their method to that of jazz pianist Invoice Evans, who as soon as mentioned in regards to the music style: ‘You utilize your mind to interrupt down the supplies, be taught to know them, and be taught to work with them. However in actuality, it takes years and years of apply to develop the ability needed to have the ability to overlook all that, loosen up, and simply play.’

Equipo de Arquitectura’s personal years of apply have concerned tasks such because the studio’s personal HQ in Asunción, a low-cost rammed-earth constructing accomplished in 2017; a Jenga-inspired set up for Hey Wooden 2020, a summer season competition for structure in Argentina; and the 2022 Casita San Ber, a courtyard-garden dwelling embodying Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s ‘nearly nothing’ method.

‘We imagine that the preliminary strategy of composing an architectural undertaking connects and resonates with what Evans proposes,’ clarify the architects. ‘Jazz makes use of a basis as a construction to outline the boundaries of music; inside that framework, devices take turns improvising or intuitively accommodating themselves to a pre-existing construction. Silences are as necessary as notes, and rhythm is what organises the distribution of sounds in time.’

At A Forest within the Home, this rhythm includes a sequence of areas set in a fenced-in backyard, together with a terrace with a small pool and hammock, and three pavilions constructed out of compressed earth blocks. The largest homes the kitchen, eating and residing areas, whereas the 2 smallest, linked by an indoor-outdoor patio, and every host an en-suite bed room. All rooms characteristic massive floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doorways that open onto the encompassing greenery.

Tying all of it collectively are the practically sq. concrete planes of the ground and roof, the latter additionally performing as an ethereal terrace with cover views. ‘On this undertaking, the boundary is given by the perimeter fringe of the roof, which defines the scope of the development,’ says the architects, who rigorously labored across the current bushes to create the constructing. ‘Relatively than treating current bushes as obstacles, the undertaking embraces them as basic guides that form the spatial programme.’

Mirrored by concrete columns, the tree trunks dotted round the home add a dynamic impact that displays the patterns of nature. The bottom ground rises subtly to permit their roots to develop, with all the opposite parts, man-made and pure, working in unison to create a sublime and soothing surroundings.

‘Pure mild defines time within the expertise of the work, producing altering shadows and atmospheres, much like what John Abercrombie does in Timeless,’ say the architects. ‘The wind that blows by means of the area and sweeps the leaves can evoke Philly Joe Jones’ brushes alongside the Miles Davis Quintet.’

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