After decades of camping on his family’s long-held lakeside property in Chile, Peter and his wife Francisca were ready to plant more permanent roots by creating a spacious holiday house that could one day become their retirement home.

To make their retreat a reality, the couple turned to two Santiago-based architects they knew well—Catalina Poblete, who is Francisca’s sister, and her husband Guillermo Hevia García.

Having visited the land over the years, Poblete and García had developed a deep appreciation of the site, as well as a fondness for an unusual German shed nearby that would serve as inspiration for the new home.

“We have always been struck by this mid-20th-century German shed with its structure of beams, pillars, and struts and three floors, which can be seen as one enters the village of Futrono from the north,” explain the architects, noting that they’ve not seen another agricultural building like it in the area. “The remarkable thing about this construction is the exposed structure, a kind of exoskeleton with a large roof that can be built during the short dry season.”

Due to the region’s tricky weather, the architects took the “exoskeleton” approach and began constructing the external structure during the dry months. A large roof with long eaves provided enough coverage for them to continue construction throughout the eight-month rainy season.

“The exoskeleton is a constructive structure that allowed us to complete the house in less than one year, and to work every day during the rainy season, especially in the interiors,” note the architects. “If this climatic constructive strategy wasn’t applied, the construction time would have doubled or tripled, and maintenance would have been a huge concern in the future.

Since the project site is over 600 miles south of Santiago, the architects adopted a modular approach to simplify construction of the square-shaped home. They say this strategy allowed them “to have full control and to reduce misunderstandings almost to zero.”

The square form was also inspired by the region’s prolonged rainy season, and it takes cues from the ancient Roman compluvium, a central opening in an atrium with sloped roofs that lets in light and facilitates rainwater collection.

“The family has known the lake for years, so there wasn’t a need to design a house that faces the lake completely,” explain the architects. “The four-sided—or eight-sided house (due to the interior courtyard)—is also a statement against the common approach of designing toward a singular view. It also reflects an understanding that the site is transscalar—meaning that lake is as important as the surrounding mountains, the nearby arrayanes forests, and the nalcas that grow in the courtyard.”

“The courtyard also allows the species and farm animals that live on the site to move freely, as if the house doesn’t exist.”

To meet the needs of the clients and their seven children, the architects created a series of bedrooms and bunk rooms, all with en suite bathrooms. The bedrooms and bathrooms are located on three sides of the home, and they connect to the main living spaces via a hallway that wraps the perimeter of the interior courtyard.

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“The insertion of a courtyard made it possible to establish a new relation with the exterior, by containing or enclosing the house in a slice of wild nature,” explain the architects.

When asked about their favorite features of the home, the architects say: “The circulation around the courtyard, and the roofs that conduct rainwater toward this enclosed piece of nature. And, having the climate as the main protagonist of the house.”

Related Reading:

A Patagonian Prefab Cabin Is Built to Withstand Volatile Climates

Two Prefab Prisms Form an A-Frame Retreat in the Chilean Wilderness

A Black Timber Home in Chile Echoes Local Volcanic Stone

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Catalina Poblete and Guillermo Hevia García / @guillermoheviagarcia

Builder/Generator Contractor: Samuel Muñoz + Timber

Structural Engineer: Enzo Valladares

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A Slice of Wilderness Grows at the Heart of a Square Home in Chile