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Patagonian Luxuries | |
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Chilean Lakeside | |
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Ten Year House | |
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Chilean Lakeside "These are not noble spaces, they are the serious spaces," says Undurraga, implying that while they are necessary, they should not be prominent in a summer house in which people seek to free themselves from humdrum daily concerns and to focus on pure relaxation. The stone walls also function as a hand-crafted counterpoint that anchors the modern glass and steel structure that is the main part of the building to the lakeside. The open-plan glass house is so low key and subtle that it appears almost without form, with unbroken sightlines through the house that instill it with an airy and spacious openness because, "in summer you live differently, less conventionally," Undurraga says. This was his response to the challenge of making the house a part of nature and ensuring that nature is always present in any part of the house. "The idea is to have a house in the middle of the trees, of being in the country. It is not a shelter. The formal simplicity and rigor of the project were intended as means to achieve abstraction and establish a counterpoint with the landscape," Undurraga says. Indeed, trees are brought within the structure through three glass-encased patios planted with native Coigues that are carefully positioned to partition the open space on each floor into living areas. The trees will grow up through each floor, eventually reaching the top the building to create a natural divide that provides privacy to the five bedrooms. Undurraga typically explores the tension between the modern and traditional materials in his designs, an approach he calls "hi-low tech," in which he combines traditional materials and construction techniques with the benefits of modern technology. We saw this once before in "El Mirador", and Lakeside House continues the architect's personal odyssey. The wall built from stone excavated from the site provides a connection to the earth and history, in contrast to the steel and glass, which represent modernity. The building technology is simple, with panels prefabricated in the capital city of Santiago and transported to the site. This prefabrication reduced construction time and complexity for a site that is remote and receives rainfall for much of the year. Dwelling Elements and Circulation The entrance expands out to the open-air, top-floor patio that presents the panoramic view of the lake. A similarly positioned patio on the ground floor provides a similar opportunity to take the air and be within the natural environment. The lower patio is more shaded and sheltered by the trees growing in front of the house. Turning from the entrance to the right and heading into the "fortified" part of the house, a staircase descends to the two lower levels. Each level presents a view over the lake and surrounding wooded shoreline. Looking toward the house from the lake, the bedrooms are situated to the left on all three levels, with the master bedroom on the top floor commanding the best view. The bedrooms are all naturally partitioned by the copse of native trees planted within the glass enclosures that extend through each level of the house. The open-plan family space is located in the middle level and is partitioned only by the location of the furniture. The predominant use of glass creates lightness and transparency that helps incorporate the summer house into the natural landscape, almost — but not quite — removing all barriers with the landscape to unify the living space with the lake and trees. >>> Discuss this article in the Architecture Forum... Paul Harris is a freelance journalist and author who has written for magazines and journals including Dazed & Confused, ID Magazine, Interiors, and Sources,, and is co-author of the BASICS Design series of graphic design books published by AVA Publishing.
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