This board-marked concrete holiday house by Luciano Kruk steps over a sand dune in a coastal town near Buenos Aires, offering its summer residents views of a pine and acacia forest beyond.

Argentinian studio Luciano Kruk Arquitectos designed House in the Dune to fit the site's uneven topography, which slopes steeply away from the street towards a pine forest at the back.

"The house merges into its surroundings by following the terrain's natural forms and through the partial burying of its volume under the slope," said the studio.

One of the client's key requirements for the 165-square-metre residence ? which used by his family in summer but rented out when not in use ? was that the social space be the most prominent area. Accordingly, the architects placed the kitchen, living and dining rooms alongside the entrance on the highest level. These rooms open to a deck area for barbecuing, a swimming pool and a garden, which are set on top of the bedrooms and bathrooms on the level below.

Large windows placed on the front and back of the top floor offer uninterrupted vistas through to the shrubbery and pine trees at the rear of the residence. On the shorter sides, rough concrete walls extend past the windows to maintain the residents' privacy.
"This wider setback, the mostly blind side walls, and the facades' permeability both at the front and the back made it possible to achieve a space configuration that is private enough and that provides shelte...