Early in the pandemic, Natalia Pronczuk and her partner, Mario Marotta, lost their jobs at Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, Uruguay. (She worked for Iberia; he for Aerolíneas Argentinas.) The shock led them to make a radical decision: to give up the three-bedroom rental where they lived with their young daughter and build a compact wooden dwelling at the back of Natalia’s mother’s yard.

The couple had a budget of approximately $35,000. Given that both had some carpentry training and Mario had completed a timber-framing course, they planned to cut costs by having him take on most of the manual labor, but they needed someone to help with drawing the floor plan and millwork details. Enter Martin Pronczuk, Natalia’s brother and the cofounder of Masa Arquitectos.

$1,500 Well & Septic	$900 Foundation	$3,660 Structure
$5,500 Framing	$4,000 Windows	$1,800 Roofing
$800 Plumbing	$1,500 Deck & Landscaping	$800 Electrical
$1,100 Walls	$500 Cabinetry	$973 Appliances
$880 Tile & Flooring	$200 Countertops	$1,600 Facade & Insulation
$6,173 Labor	$3,926 Workers Insurance
Grand Total: $35,812

Martin and his studio cofounder, Santiago Saettone, presented a minimalist rectangular design with an interior grid layout that could be divided in a variety of ways. Along the back wall, a row of bifold doors hid a kitchen, a bathroom, and two closets. Aside from the glass-walled front and low cement stilts placed to offset the yard’s downward slope, every inch of the 430-square-foot structure would be made of wood of one kind or another.

“My head exploded when Martin showed me the drawings,” says Mario. “I had imagined a much simpler house.” And yet, as the couple took stock of reality—their financial uncertainty; their abundance of idle time—accepting the challenge seemed like the right choice. To help them, Mario hired a neighbor who had no experience in construction but was physically strong and eager to work.

In the early days, the task was daunting. For the dwelling’s frame, the architects chose jatoba wood, a South American lumber that proved to be mulish. “It’s a very hard wood,” says Martin. “There were many broken drill bits and even a mangled electric saw.” Things got slightly easier when they moved on to the wide eucalyptus slabs used for the walls and interior doors and long pine planks that cover the floor.

“When the work was done, Mario and I stood on a small elevation in the yard, looking at the house, and he turned to me and said, ‘I can’t believe I did this,’” recalls Martin, with hints of emotion in his voice. “Sometimes we don’t know what we’re capable of until we just dive into it.”

The construction of this tiny space, conceived at a time of hardship, brought forth an unexpected sense of abundance. Although Mario and Natalia have plans to move into a bigger home eventually, they are not in a hurry to leave their wooden refuge, surrounded by pecan, plum, and laurel trees, as well as the warmth of their extended family.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Masa / @masaarquitectos

Builder: Woodmood

Landscape Design: Forza

Lighting Design: Walter Carrocio

Interior Design: Estudio Claro and Estudio Diario

Plumbing: Eduardo Brenes

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Budget Breakdown: In a Pandemic Pivot, a Couple Take Up Carpentry and Build Their Own Home for $35K