Hot Green Chile

Words Paula Riveros
Photographs Fernando Gómez/surpressagencia.com
Styling Mariana Rapoport

A house in the foothills of the Chilean Andes shows what is possible when a low budget is combined with an open mind.

Set in the wilds of the Chilean Andes with the permanent murmur of the Mapocho River in the background, this simple, contemporary house makes a bold statement. Only half-an-hour’s drive from the Chilean capital Santiago, a young professional couple and their three children have made a sloping 1,200-metre plot of land the site of their dream home.

“Since we got married, we had been living on the other side of the hill,” says 30-year old Fabiana Raveau who works in product development for a department store. “For a long time we had been looking for a plot of land without finding any, until we finally came to have a look over here and my husband fell for the landscape.” It was as if the position and shape of the house was predetermined, with nature providing a 60-metre-long plain. “I was fascinated by the relief,” she says. “Thinking of the kind of house we could plan here”.

Chilean architect Felipe Assadi suggested the family build a house that was avant-garde, experimental, and organic, but still achievable within their limited budget. He told them it would take one year from when the project was started to when they could all enjoy a barbecue together in the courtyard of their finished home. “When there isn’t much money, there are three options,” he says. “The first one is to make things cheaply, the second is to make things badly, and the third one is to make things quickly. And since we didn’t like the first two options, we went for ‘quickly’.”

It’s a house that makes the most of its limited resources. When the family requested concrete, they knew an expensive finish would be out of the question so it was left rough. “The formwork is also different, made of a cheaper wooden sheet,” Assadi says. “These drawbacks have become advantages because they have forced me to undergo a different creative process and have provided the house with its unique character.”

The architect and his clients really worked at understanding each other’s vision. “Felipe made a scale model for us and it was great,” says Fabiana. “It isn’t like with a plan, where you don’t understand much. We could visualize what our house would be like and we loved the project.” The architect says: “I had several advantages. My clients had very clear ideas about what they wanted: a spacious house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a toilet, a play-room for the children, a social living-room and dining-room, plus a courtyard and kitchen. Also, the site already suggested a shape: a walk-in zigzag towards the river, meeting a flat area.”

Built with both avant-garde and Povera sensibilities, the house is a real combination of the rustic and the minimalist. The first glimpse of it is a descending back façade made from wood covered in tar, hermetic and mysterious. This contrasts with a series of modern, bright orange dividing walls, the result of a happy accident. One day, the light from the west caught something orange that was sitting outside, making it glow beautifully. “So the place where a wooden or steel colour shade should have been has been painted orange,” says Assadi. “And it worked.”

On one side is the entrance to the house, which opens onto a long ramp leading down to the ground floor living area. “The idea was to go into a kind of tunnel where you begin to realise you are getting into the insides of the hill through those horizontal lateral little windows,” he says. Fabiana says she was worried when this part of the building work began. “We didn’t know what material to make the ramp of,” she says. “And materials in general were expensive. We went once to Buenos Aires and saw at a restaurant this material called “fierro” and we really liked the sensation it conveyed. We had it priced there and the figure suited us.”

This long corridor has become like a 13-metre-long skateboarding rink for the children. One of the walls has been covered in zinc. “The diamond-polished sheath, or the zinc sheath plate, was used throughout building work to walk on,” says Assadi. “It used to make a lot of noise, it was a kind of scaffold and we thought it could have a more industrial character. The householder began fantasising about using it, something no client would have ever asked me, and we found its place in this access corridor.” The skylight brightens the bare, museum-like white walls.
Down the ramp on the ground floor, the main façade faces the mountains and is located for maximum sun. The living area and bedrooms are very bright. Assadi says: “It has been one of my main concerns to provide an excellent view.” A huge window frames the view, bringing the light and colour of nature to temper and complement the austere interior. A piece of furniture made from concrete separates this space from the corridor, which as well as being useful, matches the industrial spirit of the house. There is a fireplace for cold days.

Assadi lined the corridor leading to the bedrooms with wardrobes made from white lacquered wooden sheets. “I have imagined it this way because I think the corridor can be used, it is not meant only for walking,” he says. “Each bedroom is faced by its wardrobe and thus the complete bedroom is spacious and can be fully used.” Lateral insulating metallic plates allow for natural lighting and ventilation, while the affordable and colourful Chinese lanterns add a touch of honest cheer. At the point where the ramp and the corridor leading to the bedrooms meet, there is a sunny outdoor courtyard.
The children’s playroom can be divided with a double door, in case the family grows in the future. The master twin bathrooms differ only in colour, meaning the materials could be bought in double amounts to save money. The bathtub was built on site, with the slope specially designed to be the perfect angle to lean the back on. The same happened with the worktops. “It is cheaper, because the person who installs them is already there and so are the materials,” the architect reasons. His favourite part of the house is the living room. “It is the vital centre of the house, where there is a lot of activity. The connection between the materials used for the outdoors and the ever-present view seduce me.” He continues: “My relationship with this project has been special. It has been one of those cases where from the beginning of the design, the modules all fit and the heights were beautiful. It is a building I would like to continue developing. When I create a building I think about everything that has to be done and there is always an alternative way to solve things.” He gives the example of the metal ramp leading down to the lower levels of the house. “It is not about making strange things, but about giving options to the client,” he says. “This is what I call innovating.”

And the owners are understandably pleased with the result. “The first feeling when we moved in was one of complete happiness,” says Fabiana. “This place is peaceful and has a magic aura for us. As a family we love nature and this house, with its transparencies and places that open to the exterior, with its movements on the plot of land and its textures. Wherever you look, it breathes beauty and communication with the environment.”