Text description provided by the architects. House H is a reinforced concrete structure composed of a succession of longitudinal and transverse beams that work together to generate a single structural piece. As always, we prefer to inhabit a structure instead of structuring a room. In this way, we consider the technical feasibility of a project as its actual design resolution; feasibility is not separate from project design. This means that before becoming a house, the project is its own structure. Starting from the top down, the ceiling slab hangs from two main longitudinal beams on a north-south orientation, 41 meters long and 1.40 meters high.

Site Plan

Elevations

The beams are supported by only 4 walls, creating large, 7-meter long cantilevers at both ends. The system rests on two other longitudinal beams of the same length, located under the floor slab. The same 4 walls support the entire structure and project downwards to the floor, creating a base with bedrooms, on one hand, and resting on an east-west transversal volume on the other. The latter volume frames the entrance to the house on one side, and on the other, projects towards the sea and contains the pool, a heavy wedge with a variable section that builds a new cantilever, also 7 meters towards the slope, reinforcing the views of the house towards the sea.

Cortesia de Felipe Assadi Arquitectos

The project consists of an access level in which the common areas are located: living room, dining room, and kitchen in a single space, without partitions or columns, in addition to the master bedroom plus its bathroom. The lower level, with access from the outside, contains a family room and secondary bedrooms. The great beam-wall that frames the main facade of the project is, in turn, a long piece of wood furniture that runs throughout the house, serving the enclosures according to their use. A vertical circulation consisting of a staircase and a ramp rises at the connection between both levels, where transverse structures meet the pool volume. The staircase and ramp arrive at a courtyard that crosses underneath the main structure from east to west, reinforcing the idea proposed by the project: to levitate on the slope.

© Fernando Alda

• Architects

  Felipe Assadi Arquitectos

• Location

  Zapallar, Chile

• Category

  Houses

• Design Team

  Felipe Assadi, Trinidad Schonthaler, Macarena Avila, Alice Schuck

• Area

  340.0 m2

• Ano Proyecto

  2018

• Photographs

  Fernando Alda