Larrea Duplex / Moirë Architects

Architects: Moirë Architects
Area: 3,800 ft²
Year: 2026
Photography: Ramiro Sosa – Fotografía de Arquitectura
City: Mar del Plata
Country: Argentina

Larrea Duplex by Moirë Architects brings together two semi-detached residences through a shared architectural strategy that balances collective spatial qualities with individual autonomy. Rather than treating the space between the houses as leftover area, the project gives the void an organizing role, using courtyards, circulation, entrances, and outdoor extensions to structure domestic life. The central courtyard introduces daylight, ventilation, vegetation, and views into the heart of the development, while opposing staircases animate the space through movement and changing perspectives. A sequence from the street to the entrances, courtyard, and garden establishes gradual transitions between public and private conditions. Light-colored brick, concrete, and metal form a contemporary material palette, with variations in texture, weight, and permeability adding depth to the architecture. At the street edge, a vertical fence, setback, and recessed entrance create a protected frontage that maintains a measured connection with the surrounding neighborhood.

Larrea Duplex approaches semi-detached housing through a careful negotiation between proximity and independence. The two residences are conceived as distinct homes, yet their arrangement follows a unified architectural order that gives the development a cohesive identity. Entrances, circulation routes, exterior areas, and private spaces are positioned to create a measured progression through the property. Instead of relying on rigid divisions, the design uses distance, orientation, and spatial sequencing to define the relationship between residents and their surroundings. This approach allows the compact site to accommodate two homes without reducing the spaces between them to purely functional passages.

The central courtyard establishes the project’s principal spatial focus. Positioned between the residences, it brings openness into the middle of the development and provides each dwelling with a direct relationship to an outdoor environment. The opposing staircases reinforce this arrangement, directing movement along different trajectories and giving the courtyard a changing visual character. Views across the opening connect portions of the two houses without making them physically dependent on one another. As a result, circulation, landscape, and architecture overlap within a single shared setting.

Natural conditions are incorporated into the daily experience of the interiors. Openings and exterior spaces allow sunlight to reach different areas throughout the day, while shifts in shadow and illumination give the rooms a changing character. Vegetation and airflow further strengthen the connection with the outdoors, extending the environmental qualities of the courtyard and garden into the living spaces. Rather than functioning as isolated amenities, these exterior areas become part of how the residences are occupied, offering moments of openness within an otherwise compact domestic arrangement.

The architectural expression is grounded in the contrast between masonry, concrete, and metal. Light-colored brick adds texture and visual warmth, while concrete establishes a sense of solidity and permanence. Metal introduces a lighter, more permeable element, particularly where the architecture meets the street. Their combination emphasizes changes in depth and enclosure, with recessed areas and projecting surfaces producing varied patterns of shadow. The restrained palette gives the ensemble a contemporary character while allowing its material differences to clarify the distinction between mass and openness.

Toward the street, the project adopts a layered approach to privacy. The setback and vertical fence establish an intermediate zone before the recessed entrance, reducing direct exposure while avoiding a completely closed frontage. This treatment reflects the larger architectural logic of the development, where boundaries are formed through a succession of spaces rather than abrupt divisions. Larrea Duplex consequently derives much of its character from the interaction between its built elements and the areas they define, using the courtyard, garden, circulation, and thresholds to give two independent residences a coherent architectural identity.