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Architects: Ciudad nueva, Arquitectura y Paisaje
- Area: 289 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Guy Wenborne
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Lead Architects: Ricardo Abuauad, Silvia Undurraga
“The Pier House” is located on the large island of Chiloé, in southern Chile. It is a relatively flat property that borders an abrupt and green slope as it reaches the inland sea, opening up to a magnificent view.
The house is arranged parallel to the slope, forming a unitary and long volume with a large front to take better advantage of the views. The volume is worked in half floors, with the bedroom area on two levels, and an intermediate level for the public area where the kitchen, dining room and living room, access and covered terrace are located. This allows the public area, since the entire house is covered by the same roof structure, to have greater height. As the work is located between the visitor accessing the property and the sea view, we chose to open in its center a sort of transparent "window", formed by the glazed volume of the living room and the access, which allows the eye to cross the volume and understand the general layout. This window is crossed by a walkway that forms the access and leads to a viewpoint, resembling a pier and where the best view of the slope can be appreciated.
Chiloé Island is a fragile environmental site, at risk. That is why this work has been thought of in an environmentally responsible way and is as autonomous as it was possible to do. Due to the scarcity of drinking water on the island, this house is designed to have the least possible impact on the consumption of this element, since its large nave is part of a rainwater collection system that allows filling a buried pond of 23,000 liters. This water is used for showers, washing, irrigation, etc., after purification. The house is structured through SIP panels, specially manufactured with a grooved plywood face that is the interior finish of walls and ceilings. In addition, a series of local building traditions are integrated into this structure, such as the reuse of larch shingles, the use of tin on the facade, and the color and braiding of the Chiloé facades, among others. All of this transforms this project into one that is very typical of the place where it is built.
