Biehl House - Jorge García y Daniel Rojo

The commission consists on developing a low cost house, with a basic program and with the main rooms open to the exterior.

As a second house is planned at the front of the site on the future, this house is located at the south side of the plot. This, to make the best use of natural light and to delimit a patio for the future complex.

La propuesta considera un volumen regular muy simple, con un módulo constructivo adecuado a su material principal: pino impregnado. Hacia el norte se plantea un corredor como estrategia tradicional para controlar la radiación, generando una fachada permeable que vincula adecuadamente el interior con el jardín

The proposal considers a regular simple volume, with a construction module according to the principal material: impregnated wood. A corridor to the north as a strategy to control sunlight incidence, generating a permeable facade that links the interior with the exterior.

Architects: Jorge García y Daniel Rojo

Location: Colina, Santiago, Chile

Client: Cristián Biehl

Contractor: Betanzo & Betanzo Ltda

Struture: Jorge García y Daniel Rojo

Materials: Wood

Site area: 5.000 sqm

Constructed area: 95 sqm

Project Year: 2007

Photographs: Jorge García y Daniel Rojo

Via: TECNOHAUS

Khyber Ridge - Studio NminusOne

The Khyber Ridge house was commissioned by a professional snowboarder.

The strategy takes its cue from the intimate engagement of a shredder following the line of a mountain; it is one of maximum engagement with the site. The house is distributed along a steep slope, developing diverse tactical relations to the landscape, the surrounding views and the internal functions or program of the house.

Made up of five levels, the lower level, a guest house is embedded in the rock for maximum privacy. Its green roof blends in with the landscape. In contrast the main living volume is formed by a cantilevering roof with a suspended floor projecting out of the slope. The cantilever is anchored by four 3 foot deep steel beams drilled directly into the rock face; its floor is suspended by four, 1 inch diameter stainless steel rods.

With its glass enclosure, the effect created is of a floating open platform, revealing when occupied the full impact of the surrounding mountains. One is literally suspended in space and surrounded by the foliage of trees. The upper level bedrooms retreat back along the contours of the mountain producing discreet relationships to the surrounding views. As the inhabitants navigate these volumes, they continuously weave in and out of the terrain.

In the winter, the flat roof of the living level retains the snow. The snow then acts as an insulating blanket keeping the temperature close to 0 degrees Celsius. In the summer, the flat roof becomes a necessary flat surface for outdoor living, leaving the rest of the sloped site intact.

Architects: Studio NminusOne
Location: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
Client: Marc Morisset
Construction Year: 2005
Contractor: Michael McGillion
Engineering: David Strandberg and C. A. Boom
Photographs: Studio NminusOne

Pachacamac House - Longhi Architects

A hill in Pachacamac, located 40 km south of Lima near Peru’s coast, is the site for the retirement home of a philosopher.

The response to the site’s conditions was to bury the house, trying to create a balanced dialogue between architecture and landscape, where inside / outside becomes a constant interpretation of materiality with strong sense of protection and appreciation of the dark and the light. A glass box sticks out of the hill symbolizing architectural intervention on untouched nature.

Architects: Longhi Architects

Location: Pachacamac, Peru

Principal in Charge: Luis Longhi

Collaborators: Hector Suasnabar, Christian Bottger, Carla Tamariz, Veronica Schreibeis

Construction: Longhi Architects / Hector Suasnabar

Project year: 2006-2008

Site Area: 5,000 sqm

Constructed Area: 480 sqm

Photographs: CHOlon

Photography, Elsa Ramirez