Project: Bumeran House
Architects: Lucas Maino Fernandez
Location: Villarrica, Chile
Area: 2.303 sf
Year: 2020
Photographs by: Marcos Zegers
Bumeran House by Lucas Maino Fernandez
Nestled by Villarrica’s volcano, Chile, lies Bumeran House. Shaped like a flung weapon, it offers solace in seclusion. Bedrooms hide on one wing, while social spaces sprawl on the other. Expansive glass panes soak in the southeast garden’s beauty. Unifying the space, a vast roof rests upon rustic, impregnated pine boards. This weekend sanctuary prioritizes stolen moments amidst nature’s embrace.
Located near the city of Villarrica in Araucanía, Bumeran House sits in a rural hilly environment with large esplanades of grasslands and pockets of trees. To the east, the landscape overlaps with the mountain range and the Villarrica volcano, in its other three directions it seems to be an endless field.
The project is particularly located on a plot of land measuring five thousand square meters of rectangular shape with a dominant east-west orientation, where the two longest fronts are the north and the south. It has a gentle slope that goes from north to south, where the north side is characterized by being an artificial limit, a fence that marks the property subdivision, generating a very direct relationship with its neighbor, this raises the first problem or opportunity for design and challenge, privacy due to proximity. A situation where the closeness is such that future neighborly coexistence becomes uncomfortable.
Due to this, it was decided to have the back of the house facing north, or not to convert that façade into the main façade of the project, thus prioritizing the view to the east and south towards the Villarrica volcano. It responds by means of a “V” distribution or simulating a boomerang, giving rise to the name of the project. Through two programmatic wings joined at a point that articulates them, the access point is produced and from there two directions are born. On the one hand, the private sector for bedrooms, and on the other the common area, a large integrated living, dining and kitchen space.
The north and west facades are characterized by a private appearance, modest in the openings, just enough to let in light and frame certain conditions. On the contrary, the southeast façade is open and is characterized by its glazed faces that accompany the route of the house, promoting a constant view of the garden and its context. At the same time, this façade is accompanied by a large eave that allows a covered space to be used on rainy days.
It is a project that is characterized by having more roof than house, more intermediate space than interior. It is a large mantle that houses all the programs of the home, from parking, loggia, interiors, barbecue area, terraces, etc. In this way, the intention of generating a unified and not disintegrated or dispersed space is maintained, a single element that contains everything. On the outside, raw 1×8 impregnated pine board is used, arranged horizontally and without protectors, in order to generate a link or memory with respect to traditional constructions in the area. In this way, it is assimilated to wooden sheds that over time their appearance moves away from looking like something new and transforms into something that gives the feeling of having been there a long time ago.
Bumeran House is a second home family project mainly for use on weekends and holidays. A simple scheme project, which prioritizes the views and depths of the rural landscape, over the idea of constant northern light; It is a mantle that encompasses everything under its shelter.
-Lucas Maino Fernandez
