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In keeping with the project's eco ethos, lime plaster and clay paint were used to finish the walls.

Originally constructed in the 1870s, the revamped building has a charming brick facade and a completely overhauled interior.

Movable slatted-wood panels allow Teresa and Nicolás to control the flow of light as well as the level of privacy from the nearby road. The space between the screen and home acts as a small deck.

The pendant in the kitchen is from Huup Iluminación. The kitchen’s Sticotti shelving system and are by the couple’s studio, La Base.

A wood-burning stove heats the 840-square-foot home during winter months.

La Base also designed the bathroom’s modular hangers.

Floor plan for Refugio Bariloche by Nicolás Tovo and Teresa Sarmiento

The whole project comprised only three months of design, two months of production (some 90 percent of which was completed at a Buenos Aires factory), one day of assembly, and five days of adjustments. The structure consists of just four 9-foot-8-inch-by-19-foot-7-inch modules supported by a foundation plate. “If we want to move it, we can,” says Teresa. “We could get a crane and disassemble it and then reassemble it on the coast.”

As Nicolás Tovo and Teresa Sarmiento of La Base embraced modular design as part of their architectural practice, they noticed that prospective clients were wary of prefabricated construction. So the duo teamed up with Place, an Argentine prefab builder, to make a proof of concept just outside the Patagonian resort town of Bariloche.

The light-filled kitchen features custom bespoke cabinetry, along with a large central island that delineates the space from the adjacent dining area.