While it’s not technically within the city limits of Buenos Aires, the neighborhood of Vicente López isn’t really considered a suburb. This leafy, mostly middle-class enclave lies just 30 minutes north of the elegant plazas of Recoleta and the buzzy restaurants of Palermo, and locals consider it part of the capital. Lately, more and more urbanites are moving to the area, drawn by its quiet streets lined with two-story homes, some with Art Deco lines and others with Beaux-Arts details.

When Argentinian architect Ana Smud began looking for a piece of land to build her own house from scratch, Vicente López was her first—and only—choice. We chatted with Ana to learn how she brought her dream home to life.

A Coveted Site

Ana Smud: I grew up in Nuñez, just blocks away from Vicente López, so the area feels very close to my life. I always really liked it. In the capital, which is so near, you practically don’t have residential neighborhoods like this anymore. The scale is so lovely.

During the pandemic, I moved back in with my parents, and started desperately looking for an empty lot for sale. I would go over and walk around almost every day, and I eventually noticed a piece of land that was too big for me, but it was being subdivided into two 5,000-square-foot lots. I rushed to make an offer.

Designing a New Life

Ana: As an architect, I had a strong desire to build my own house, rather than renovate an existing one. I had imagined the whole process and was so eager to do it. It all happened very fast—I drew the plans in four months, and construction took just over a year.

We moved in exactly 14 months ago, when my daughter was just one month old; she helps me keep track of time. We are four now: my partner, Alejo, his son, Ulises, and our daughter, Lina.

Placement and Scale

Ana: I knew from the start that I wanted a generous yard, so I had to keep the built footprint as small as possible within the 5,000-square-foot lot. But I also wanted the home to be 2,600 square feet. In the search for a solution to that equation, I came up with a compact, three-story construction. The ground level has all of the social areas, the middle level has two bedrooms for the kids and a small family room, and the top level is the primary bedroom.

It’s a corner site, and I placed the house slightly away from the existing brick perimeter walls, to surround it with greenery. But it’s built closer to the street than the garden, which is toward the back. I wanted the garden to feel secluded and protected.

Local Materials, Faraway Inspiration

Ana: All of the exterior wood you see is lapacho—the frames of the sliding doors and windows, and the slats that cover the central volume. Inside, the cabinets and shelves are made of engineered incienso wood [also known as ibirá-payé], and the wall panels are recycled pine.

I’ve been influenced by Nordic and Japanese architecture. Yet I also looked at Louis Kahn’s Fisher House in Pennsylvania when I was designing this one. It has three stories and lots of wood, too. The idea was for the private sections of the home to be pretty opaque, thus the cladding on the second level, and then the third level has a balcony with a tall steel railing planted with climbing vines. Hopefully it will become a thick green wall in a few years.

Argentinian Keepsakes

Ana: The furniture was not purchased for this house; it’s all about our past and our shared stories. Some pieces were mine, some were my partner’s, and almost all are by local designers—except the lamps. (One is by Noguchi, and another is by Miguel Milá.) There’s a bench, side tables, and a dining table by the late Alejandro Sticotti. The chairs are by Patricia Lascano, and the couch is by Laura Orcoyen. Even the potted plants are things we brought from our previous homes and past lives. There’s a big, gnarled agave that my partner has had for like a hundred years.

A year in, the house surprises me in good ways—it makes me happy. The only thing I would have done differently is to not have the living room facing west, because it gets warm. But as the trees we planted keep growing, we’ll get more shade there. We just love spending time in the living room, looking out at the garden.

More Construction Diary stories:

In Chile, a Much-Needed Addition Feels a Part of the Landscape

Jaime Hayon’s 1920s Valencia Apartment Is a Master Class in Color

An Irish Architect’s Passive House Shows the Strength of CLT

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Ana Smud / @anasmud

Builder/General Contractor: Delico

Structural & Civil Engineer: Angel Santos

Landscape Design: Rosa Oks

Lighting Design: Arq. Arturo Peruzzotti

Interior Design: Ana Smud