Architects: 57 STUDIO – Maurizio Angelini / Benjamín Oportot
Location: Colina, Chile
Collaborators: Felipe Zamora / Carla Uribe
Project year: 2006-2007
Construction year: 2007-2008
Structural Engineer: Claudio Hinojosa
Contractor: CYBCO
Materials: Concrete / Steel / Stone
Photographs: 57 STUDIO
The assignment is a single unit house in a residential park in northern Santiago.
The sites – about 5000 sqm each and mostly surrounded by golf fields and green areas – have the constant presence of the Andes, high temperatures during the summer time and winds from the south. The project seeks to incorporate the landscape in the household daily life, following the client’s request who wanted to spend a long time throughout the year in the exterior spaces.
The site has a park on the north side, a street on the west side and another one southwards, where the main access is located. The house is placed towards the corner of the two streets with the intention of freeing the garden, creating continuity with the park and clearing the views towards the east mountain range.
All the interior spaces are organized around an 8 x 8 m central patio that takes in part of the terrain, incorporating it inside the house. Delimited by the ceiling slab, this patio opens its north face to project the view towards the garden. A water mirror runs across a third of its surface reinforcing this perspective through a porch. The public areas constantly participate of the patio, from the main access to the family room, articulating the service areas towards the west. On the east side, a double-height wall lightly closes the private area without losing its participation of the patio and accompanies the ascension to the master bedroom. From there, it is possible to go out into a vast porch that dominates the landscape, where the barbecue area and the swimming pool are placed at a certain distance using the site in all of its extension.
Some peripheral walls are prolonged to direct the views and close the house against the winds and nearby streets. In addition, the slabs extend as eaves to protect tall windows from the sun and to cover the terraces. These architectonic elements radicalize the opening of the interior spaces, deepening their presence from the outside.
