Claudia García Cardemil and Ivan Petricio were thinking about the future when they decided to build a house in Chile’s Los Ríos region, more than 500 miles from their primary residence in Santiago. Their sons, Dusan and Andro, were nearly college age, and the couple sought a vacation home that could also serve as a year-round retirement residence.

With climate change in mind, they decided to look in southern Chile—away from the coast, and at a high elevation beside the Andes mountains. Here, cooler, rainier weather prevails amidst a verdant landscape of forests, lakes, and rivers. Claudia and Ivan sought a modest yet lasting dwelling, rooted in this picturesque terrain.

“It’s a way to remember that nature is the most important thing,” Claudia says. “That’s the idea of the house: It’s a place where I can get up really early and drink my coffee outside, watching birds and foxes—but also a place for the family to be together.”

The site they chose, just north of Lago Ranco near the town of Futrono, was wooded enough to make them feel immersed in nature, even with neighbors relatively close by. Its natural topography, including a dried-out creek bed, became a source of inspiration for both the couple and the home’s architect, Simón Peréz of Santiago firm Hebra Arquitectos.

The Old Creek House, as it’s known, takes the form of a long and thin rectangle with just over 1,000 square feet of interior space. The home straddles the former creek bed almost like a bridge, and stones from the site were milled into cladding for a partially exposed basement/storage level that is nestled into the natural slope. “The house is growing out of the rock,” Peréz says.

A small storage area clad in creek stones forms the home’s base. The living areas are elevated to prevent flooding, should the creek return during high rains.glass doors on either side of the living area allow for a wide-open, indoor/outdoor feel." layout="wide" credit="Photo by Cristóbal Palma
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Building up above the creek bed turned out to be a good idea; during one period of heavy rains, after the house was completed, the creek temporarily returned—and while water creeped into the basement, the house and the family’s possessions were unharmed.

Above the smooth-stone base, the home’s main volume is clad in Patagonian oak blackened by a Shou Sugi Ban treatment. The same oak, left natural and stained, forms the entrance. The entry is set at an angle to the otherwise rectangular footprint, in parallel with the road just beyond. This geometry is mirrored by the sloping, broken-pitch roof.

The middle of the house holds the living area and a dining table. Sliding glass doors open wide on each side of the house, creating an indoor/outdoor space that flows onto wood decks just beyond the glass.

“We created an indoor/outdoor feel with these doors that open up in the middle,” Peréz says. “We were able to do it because it’s out in the forest.” The design team selected a combination of wood surfaces common in South America, including laurel flooring, handy-tree cabinetry, and a whitewashed pine ceiling.

The kitchen is highly functional but relatively modest, occupying one corner of the main space. A traditional wood-fired oven doubles as an island when not in use—the couple relies largely on a slow cooker and an outdoor grill.

“We like to cook a lot, and we have a larger kitchen in Santiago. But when we are at the cabin, it’s simple living. We try to do something different,” Claudia says. “My husband cooks outside on the grill once a day. We have a drink every afternoon together on the terrace, and we talk a lot—that’s a special place for us, but it’s also great as a family place. With the doors open, you can move from the dining room onto the terrace and it feels like one space—big enough for the whole family.”

The home’s central public areas are flanked by bedrooms: the master on one side, and a room for their sons on the other. The latter also includes a small attic loft, so they can invite friends.

Even as their kids reach adulthood, “It’s important that this is a place where the family wants to go, and my kids want to stay,” Claudia says. “They’re looking for the same thing my husband and I are—to be in nature all day long.”

Related Reading:

A Chilean Cabin Rises Amidst Ancient Trees in the Andes Mountains

A Remote Chilean Cabin Appears to Float Above the Forest Floor

Soak Up the Surf at These Remote Timber Cabins on the Chilean Coast

Project Credits:

Architecture: Hebra Aquitectos / @hebra_arquitectos

Builder: Tierra Fértil

Structural Engineer: Pedro Valenzuela

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A Cabin Springs Up Above a Dry Creek Bed in a Chilean Forest