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Client Marleen Deblieck and her children Amalia and Violeta were collaborators in the design. Deblieck dreamed of an ample space extending without limits. "I like to be able to look at the horizon and feel that through the sea I am connected with my people," she says. Her older daughter Amalia contributed, says Heras, "very revealing drawings of her search for her own world."

Materials and Form

The design considers the multiple project variables without adherence to any particular architectural style, although Heras interpreted the modernist vision of economic and efficient resource use to mean "we do not waste or squander," enriching the design by incorporating "randomness, fortune, and what cannot be measured."

Heras explains: "This production form intends to overcome the voids that standardization leaves in terms of taking into account the people, the individual, the 'other' that is not included in a given system."

Casa Mauleen is a three-story, vertically organized cuboid with asymmetrical touches like the windows and garden wall, built with steel-reinforced concrete to reflect the industrial nature of the location and nearby mine winch towers, and to conform to the clients' budget.

"With little money we must produce work that does not distance itself from good design, good construction, and the minimum comfort that we consider necessary for all humans," says Heras, adding "good design is not a luxury."

Factoría used industrial reinforced-concrete shells to add a distinctive wall pattern to the concrete pour in addition to minimizing project costs. "We try to take to the limit the study of how we can use [standard shells]. The house was completely modeled using the [4- by 8-foot (1.22- by 2.44-meter mould)] dimensions," Heras says.

The multifunctional southern wall curves around a copse of cherry trees to add a softening natural touch. The wall's south face features a design alluding to "the surrounding marine environment, geologic strata, and the material elements of the mine," says local sculptor Lautaro Labbé, who created the mural.

This wall also supports staircases to the second floor: its inland end is pierced with steps leading to a breakfast patio, while the seaward end supports a steel and concrete staircase — embedded with blue ceramic tile — leading to the entrance landing adjacent to the breakfast patio.

With the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andean cordillera to the east, numerous double-glazed windows provide views in both directions from the comfortable interior, protected from the harsh external environment of strong winds, salt corrosion, and intense sun.

Environmental protections include an expanded polystyrene thermal barrier sandwiched between the concrete walls and anodized aluminum window frames. To minimize damage from the harsh climate, the garden fence is of galvanized steel, and wood is used only in the house interior.

Dwelling Elements and Circulation

The second floor entrance opens into a double-height, open-plan living room that creates a large active area for a family that receives numerous and frequent visitors. This feeling of space is accentuated by the high ceiling over a third-level loft and by the wall of glass that visually brings the sea and beach inside.

The interior spatial design was influenced by family preferences: a large aperture rather than a doorway provides access to the adjacent kitchen because the girls like to cook and stay involved with events in the living space.

"The paradigm of possible spaces extends from small corners to large open spaces, from strong and introspective interior relations to great connections with the exterior that could be the sea, the forest, or mountains," says Heras.

The kitchen, with an exit to the breakfast terrace, has black floor tiles, polished granite surfaces, and dark-stained wood kitchen units that contrast with the light wooden floors and exposed concrete of the rest of the house. A large window provides lots of natural light and mountain views.

A wooden staircase descends to the bedrooms on the more intimate ground level, which is warmed with wooden floors and paneling and deliberately isolated to maintain privacy. Two children's bedrooms face the sea, with broad windows and a patio door opening onto the garden. The master bedroom enjoys a mountain view courtesy of a large window, with a patio door opening onto the front garden. The toilet room and bathroom are between the bedrooms.

In the main living space, concrete steps emerge from the wall "to give the sensation that you are floating" and lead to the loft level, which extends the mine-winch tower reference through randomly placed steel cables running floor to ceiling in place of a banister. Exposed concrete walls and I-beam ceiling supports add to the industrial reference.

The third-level study has a vitrified oak floor and opens out over the living space via a balcony that lets in light from the front windows and allows Deblieck to keep an eye on her children below, while perhaps sacrificing a little peace and quiet.

She says: "Wrapped in the force of the sea and the Pacific breeze, with space and light, warm and transparent, means that at last I can throw away my suitcases and enjoy our home and dream with my children."   >>>

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Paul Harris is a freelance journalist and author who has written for magazines and journals including Dazed & Confused, ID Magazine, Interiors, and Sources. He is coauthor of the BASICS Design series of graphic design books published by AVA Publishing and is now working on a visual dictionary of architecture.

Casa Mauleen, by Factoria Ltda, on the Chilean coast. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra Casa Mauleen, east facade. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra Casa Mauleen, south facade, with a mural by sculptor Lautaro Labbé. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra Double-height living room. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra Living room opens to kitchen. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra Kitchen. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra Section looking east. Image: Factoria Ltda. Section looking north. Image: Factoria Ltda.   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.