Curved board-marked concrete walls wrap around the front of this residence in Quito, Ecuador, which local firm Estudio Felipe Escudero modelled on "the physical form of a hug".

Casa Roca is located in a residential neighbourhood in Ecuador's capital city that Estudio Felipe Escudero (EFE), a studio led by architect Felipe Escudero, describes as "full of speed and daily entropy".

The 450-square-metre house is designed to provide its residents with privacy from the hustle and bustle outside. The front wall and two sides are rounded to wrap around the indoors, a shape which the studio likens to hugging arms, while the rear wall is straightened to embrace the back garden.

"Estudio Felipe Escudero went a few steps beyond the symbolic meaning, to imagine a space that might provide, in addition to that heat, the physical form of a hug," said EFE in a statement.
"Casa Roca was born from that visual inspiration," it continued. "Its curved skin of exposed concrete surrounds the three sides of the construction and offers a cosy privacy in its interior spaces."

The concrete walls are textured with the imprints of the wooden boards used to form them. The technique has become increasingly popular with South American residences ? as seen in a series by Argentinian architect Luciano Kruk ? as concrete's high thermal mass helps with cooling during hot weather, while the rugged effect requires little maintenance.

In Casa Roca, portion...