Santa Lucia Alto in Chile's Yungay region, is green and dramatic, filled with dense forests, fertile agricultural plains and tall mountains – part of the Andes starts here. It is also the home turf of renowned, award-winning architecture practice Pezo von Ellrichshausen, headed by Sofía von Ellrichshausen and Mauricio Pezo. And it is here that the dynamic duo embarked upon building their new base, the expansive, combined home and workspace project, Luna House. Exemplifying in one fell swoop the pair's fascination with form making, exposed concrete and a healthy blend of brutalism and minimalist architecture, Luna House is at once a striking and a calming presence.
‘This is a large and a small building at the foot of the Andes Mountains,' the architects explain. ‘In fact, it is an aggregate of 12 different buildings separated from each other by visible seismic joints. Saying that this collection of concrete blocks is a house would be too simple.'
The building is arranged in a square floorplan, featuring a large courtyard in the middle, around which runs an intermittent colonnade – a bit like a cloister. An asymmetrical cross shape (on plan) divides it into sections with a different identity each – one has a reflective pool, another a flower garden, for example. Various rooms and functions are arranged around it, including purely domestic spaces, workspace, semi-open air and flexible areas.
Each room has its own spatial quality, as this generous building is punctuated by a variety of openings – round ones and slender slits, some on the walls and some on the ceiling forming variously shaped skylights. Some parts feel intimate, and some have a more public atmosphere, almost gallery-like with tall, double-height ceilings. Spreading across some 2,400 sq m, Luna House has space for everything, blending at the same time the perceived harshness of the exposed concrete walls with green foliage, flowers and water elements.
As to what inspired this expansive home office's moniker? ‘The name of this intricate structure [Luna] is given by the size of that bigger courtyard, which is equivalent to the size of a bullring, called “medialuna” in Chilean rural tradition,' the architects explain.
INFORMATION
-
In BDSM biker romance ‘Pillion’, clothes become a medium for ‘fantasy and fetishism’Costume designer Grace Snell breaks down the leather-heavy wardrobe for the Alexander Skarsgård-starring Pillion, which traces a dom/sub relationship between a shy parking attendant and a biker
-
Tour Aflalo’s first retail space, a gallery-like studio in New YorkLight-filled and elegant, Aflalo has opened its first retail space in a classic Soho loft, reimagined by Nordic Knots Studio
-
This Toronto pizzeria hides a sultry bar with serious biteNorth of Brooklyn unveils a fresh, two-level outpost where crisp, light-filled minimalism gives way to a warmer, neon-lit upstairs area
-
A Chilean pavilion cuts a small yet dramatic figure in a snowy, forested siteArchitects Pezo von Ellrichshausen are behind this compact pavilion, its geometric, concrete volume set within a forest in Chile’s Yungay region
-
A beautifully crafted concrete family house in a Mexican suburb is a contemplative oasisHW Studio have shaped a private house from raw concrete, eschewing Brutalist forms in favour of soft light, enclosed spaces and delicate geometries
-
A wooden lakeside cabin in southern Chile offers a new twist on the traditional barnClad in local Coigüe timber, this lakeside cabin by Tomás Tironi and Lezaeta Lavanchy on Lake Ranco, titled Casa Puerto Nuevo, adds contemporary flair to the local vernacular
-
This new lakeside house in Chile is a tour de force of contemporary timber constructionCazú Zegers’ lakeside house Casa Pyr is inspired by the geometry of fire and flames, and nestles into its rocky site
-
Remembering Alexandros Tombazis (1939-2024), and the Metabolist architecture of this 1970s eco-pioneerBack in September 2010 (W*138), we explored the legacy and history of Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis, who this month celebrates his 80th birthday.
-
Sun-drenched Los Angeles houses: modernism to minimalismFrom modernist residences to riveting renovations and new-build contemporary homes, we tour some of the finest Los Angeles houses under the Californian sun
-
All hail the power of concrete architecture‘Concrete Architecture’ surveys more than a century’s worth of the world’s most influential buildings using the material, from brutalist memorials to sculptural apartment blocks
-
Three Object Apartment embraces raw concrete honesty in the heart of AthensThree Object Apartment by DeMachinas is a raw concrete home in Athens, which confidently celebrates its modernist bones
