Office

Agustín Hernandez's home office.

Mike's second-floor office features locally-sourced cabinetry. Photo credit: Dale Christopher Lang PhD AIAP

The second-floor office is housed inside a rounded rectangle of concrete that the architect inserted on top of the old farmhouse.

Concrete is used for the walls and ceiling and stone for the floors to maintain an urban, industrial feeling.

Design studio the Andes House saw potential for an office system in an unlikely material. Cholguán, a natural, lightweight composite wood board that's commonly found in industrial packaging and backing for furniture, has been manufactured by the Chilean forestry company Arauco for over 50 years.

Lightweight and configurable, the designers see the system as a flexible solution for workspaces, as well as schools, libraries, and emergency shelters.