Tunquén House

Tunquén House

Nicolas Loi

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

ARCHITECTS
Nicolas Loi

STRUCTURAL ENGENEER
Pedro Escobar

CONSTRUCTION
Constructora Dédalo, Felipe Del Valle

MANUFACTURERS
Nuprotec

AREA
250 M²

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Chile

CATEGORY
Houses

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

Text description provided by architect.

The house is locates in the beach area of Tunquén, central coast of Chile, in an almost flat site near the sea.

From the ground level of the site, the views to the sea are limited, so the first design choice was to locate the most important areas of the house in the first level, from where the sea and the beach can be seen more easily.

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

The living area, kitchen, dining room and main bedroom are located in the first floor, as an uncovered terrace.

This open terrace separates the public area from the private one, and is enclosed by 3 sides, thus protected from the strong wind of the area.

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

This terrace also allows the sun that comes from the back of the house to illuminate the main areas from the sides.

An exterior stair links the terrace with the garden. The children bedrooms, guest bedrooms, and the parking areas are located on the ground floor.

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

The design of the project aims to achieve no more than a logical distribution of the spaces, and a logical relationship with the context.

The final design is the result of the construction technique of the wood; as a wooden box or pallet is built, the spaces of the house are created through the stacking or cross junction of one wood element with the next one that follows on the wood construction logic.

The result is that the structural wood elements are the ones that generate the architectural design, and the architecture as “design” tends to “disappear” and become “construction”.

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

In that regard, int is intended that architecture “eliminates” rather than “aggregates”, becoming more a reductive technique rather than an additive one, so the construction technique becomes the main character in the final result.

The construction logic of the wood, through columns that are close among themselves, with short beams, and short cladding between the columns, allows for the correct performance of the material, avoiding deformations.

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

The column system allows transparency to generate sea views to the south and to allow the sun light to come from the back or north side.

(The sun comes from the north on the southern hemisphere).

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal

Apart from the main structure, 2 secondary structures are added: in the service areas, such as kitchen or bathrooms, short cladding walls are located between columns, and in the public areas wooden louvers between columns are located to avoid sun excess from the north and to allow some privacy from the neighbors views.

Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal
Tunquén House
© Marcos Mendizabal


Tunquén House
Site Plan
Tunquén House
Roof Floor Plan
Tunquén House
First Floor Plan
Tunquén House
Second Floor Plan


Tunquén House
Elevation
Tunquén House
Elevation
Tunquén House
Elevation
Tunquén House
Section
Tunquén House
Section
Tunquén House
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Tunquén House
Detail

Tunquén House
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Tunquén House
Detail

Tunquén House
Detail


Tunquén House
Detail