Project: Entreluz House
Architects: Pablo Padilla Carvacho + Jesús del Río Enrico
Location: Algarrobo, Chile
Area: 839 sf
Year: 2022
Photographs by: Marcela Melej
Entreluz House by Pablo Padilla Carvacho + Jesús del Río Enrico
Entreluz House, designed by Pablo Padilla Carvacho and Jesús del Río Enrico in Algarrobo, Chile, embraces its natural surroundings and pays homage to the native vegetation. Raised on stilts and cantilevered towards the ravine, the house allows the vegetation to flourish underneath. Inspired by a Palapa, the design features a large covered terrace and a wooden structure reminiscent of steel frames, ensuring flexibility and efficient construction. The orientation of the spaces optimizes solar control and thermal comfort, with carefully calculated eaves and a colihue roof providing shade and ventilation. As daylight filters through the colihue mantle, the house reveals an ever-changing interplay of textures and colors, earning its name, “Casa Entreluz.”
This house is located at the beginning of one of the ravines with abundant native vegetation in Algarrobo. With the aim of coexisting and integrating with the site, the house is elevated on stilts and cantilevers towards the ravine, which in turn allows the native vegetation to recover its space and grow through it.
Inspired by a Palapa, the house was conceived as a large covered terrace. The wooden structure was designed with reference to steel frame structures; composite beams and pillars, joints, and bolts are part of the construction logic, which helped to reduce the construction time of the project.
Additionally, this allowed the interior spaces to be independent and freely designed and located, generating corridors along its perimeter and incorporating dynamic flows in the use of the house and its relationship with the exterior.
The design also incorporates passive bioclimatic elements by orienting the interior and exterior spaces to the north and includes two features to optimize solar control and thermal comfort. Firstly, the eave is designed and calculated to receive sunlight in the desired manner during different periods of the year. Secondly, the colihue roof provides shade and ventilation to the air mass, optimizing the interior temperature of the spaces during summer.
The name of this work, “Casa Entreluz”, originates from the changing textures and colors revealed by the filtered shade projected by the colihue mantle as the day goes by.
-Pablo Padilla Carvacho
