House with Courtyard in Ranco Lake
Guillermo Hevia & Catalina Poblete Los Ríos, Chile
A wooden house beside Ranco Lake in Chile that follows two fundamental concepts: order and structure.
Photos: © Nicolás Saieh
Guillermo Hevia and Catalina Poblete have built a house for a large family beside Ranco Lake, in Chile’s Los Ríos region. The 400-square-meter wooden dwelling draws inspiration from the unique construction system of a mid-20th-century shed situated at the north entrance of the town of Futrono, replicating it: the structure rises as an exoskeleton around an enclosure made of the union of pillars, supports, and beams. A repeated section leaves the loadbearing elements visible under a large
roof. The building unfolds in no clear direction, but comes across as multidirectional. Its configuration is a square organized around a central courtyard, a patio that allows double orientations in all the bays and optimizes incoming natural light. It also functions as an impluvium for rainwater collection. Pursuing the logic of a hotel, the program presents a series of rooms – with bathrooms of their own – that alternate with public zones.
