When architect Martin Huberman and his wife, Maria Quinzio, head of strategy at global creative agency Wunderman Thompson, were house hunting in 2015, they wanted a place that would grow with them. “We wanted a house that didn’t just depict us as we are now; we wanted to forecast the house 20 to 30 years in the future,” says Martin, founder of the Buenos Aires–based Estudio Normal.

The couple began their search in Vicente Lopez, a suburban enclave with just a 15-minute commute to the city center (sans traffic). It’s where Martin grew up, and where his family still lives. They were thinking small, “but the neighborhood is very requested at the moment, and all the small houses were taken,” he remembers.

Fortunately, a promising home popped up on the market: an untouched 1930 residence being sold by the original owners. “We liked that it was a modern house, with a so-called vernacular style, easy to refurbish into a more contemporary style, and that it was on a very quiet and very green street,” says Martin.

Before: Front Exterior

After: Front Exterior

Although much of the vernacular detail was charming, such as the original wood flooring, the rear facade was not. There, small windows chopped up the view to the backyard, and on the main floor was a warren of rooms.

Before: Rear Exterior

After: Rear Exterior

Before: Main Floor

After: Main Floor

The focal point of the main floor is the six-meter-long island that separates the kitchen from the dining and living rooms. “It's like a lifestyle hub,” says Martin. “We cook, we eat, we work on it. It’s an arrival table, or a cocktail bar. We even bathe our kid in the sink.”

The treatment of the black lacquered cabinets in the kitchen was inspired by a trip the couple took to Japan, while the poured-in-place terrazzo floor recalls early modernist buildings in Buenos Aires. “We knew it would work as a threshold between the all-new kitchen and the living room, which kept a lot of the house’s original look and feel,” he says.

Material choices were a deliberate juxtaposition of old and new. “Since the project kept a lot of the original flooring and rescued some of the details of the old house, we had to choose the materials carefully so as not to overshadow the original, and also to go along with its classical feel,” says Martin.

Shop the Look

“The paneling was made by recovering the pitch pine beams that we found below the oak floors,” says Martin. “We have a very good relationship with Bugada, a wood shop we have worked with for a long time, and we tried a new paneling silhouette that was rejected by an old client of mine.” The paneling also absorbs the acoustics in the room and conceals the door to the powder room." layout="" credit="Javier Agustín Rojas" photoUserId=""/>

Having an abundance of open space on the main floor allows the furniture to be reconfigured—and the house to evolve with the occupants over the years. Martin has run a design gallery, Monoambiente, in Buenos Aires since 2011, and so was able to specify a range of custom options for the project at his own pace.

“I know all the shops and their capabilities,” he says. “So, we take a lot of time to play and design new outcomes. My house was a good place to test all of that.”

Before: Staircase

After: Staircase

Before: Second Floor

After: Second Floor

Before: Second Bedroom

After: Second Bedroom/Office

After: Bathroom

More Before & After:

A Disjointed Cape Cod Home Is Streamlined and Synced to Its Site

A Dilapidated Dormitory in Taipei Is Transformed Into a Lush Family Home

A Faded Eichler in San Mateo Gets a Glow Up

Project Credits:

Architecture: Estudio Normal / @estudionormal

Builder: Obrar - Obras Argentinas - SRL

Landscape Design: Estudio Bulla

Lighting Design: Arturo Peruzzotti

Interior Design: Martin Huberman - Estudio Normal

Cabinetry Design: Bugada Carpintería

Electrical: ARSA Electricidad

Metal Work: Oficios Asociados

Also Appears In

Before & After: A Buenos Aires Architect Transforms a Disjointed 1930s Home