Studio-Home

In 1998, Decastelli designed his studio-home in the Colegiales section of Buenos Aires.
Like his artwork, this construction is characterized by the austerity of its materials and the purity of its forms.
A total of 320 square meters, the construction has three levels including patios, a yard and terraces designed according to the changing position of the sun.
The figure of the straight line—which is broken to form the core of the house—governs the composition of the floor plan, integrating volumes and interior and exterior spaces connected by large openings.
The ceilings are exposed concrete with layered formwork; the floors gray smooth cement. Fine plaster details are found in the interiors and cardboard-color covering in the exteriors. All the materials serve to unify the construction; their finishing may vary, as in the case of porphyry, which is polished for the counters, in sheets in the bathrooms and in tile form in the exterior passageways.
A double-height section of the building, his studio is both integrated into and differentiated from the rest of the house, allowing for fluid interaction. This tremendously ascetic space—just a table, some benches, sheets of cardboard, tools—is the setting as well as the context for his work, which he performs alone or with an assistant, when the work process so requires. It is also, once a week, the gathering point for his students.