Casa de Chorizo

For the past week i have been loving the houses in Palermo. The reason is that nearly every house has this amazing plan. You are always stepping in off the street, up a few steps, and into an entry vestibule elaborately detailed with a set of iron and wood doors, tile floors, and marble wainscoting before then walking into a front room that generally both connects to other rooms and a great sun lighted courtyard. The greatest thing about these houses is the courtyard. Every house allows for some type of natural light. Very often this is a full courtyard with huge steel windows. Frit, prism, and colored glass filters and gently alters the light as it comes into the rooms surrounding the courtyard. Because all of the rooms face the courtyard and because the courtyard is surrounded by high walls this outdoor space feels very much part of the interior.


After excitedly talking about this with Diego, an architect here in Buenos Aires, he told me with a smile that these houses had a name- Casa de Chorizo. Wow- this country likes beef- they even name their house types after sausages! After pressing him why, Diego explained that when the first families moved in they would get these skinny deep lots from the city and build a room in the front. Then as the family grew, they would build another room, then another, then another. Often they built around a courtyard and kept the kitchen in the back nearest to the alley. Seen over time these domestic houses developed like links of a chorizo. Fantastic!