Cazú Zegers’ Y-shaped house in Chile asks all the right questions
Architects find inspiration from any number of sources, but, by any yardstick, the physical form of the alphabet is an unusual touchstone. Having already experimented with ‘T’ and ‘K’ on residential projects, the Santiago-based architect Cazú Zegers settled on ‘Y’ for this family home in Valdivia, on the edge of a development flanked by myrtle woods and wetlands teeming with dense vegetation and wildlife.
From the beginning, the landscape imposed itself on the site, challenging Zegers to build lightly. This required creating ‘simple and meaningful spaces that use the beauty of the surrounding to complete the silent architecture’.
The silence is achieved in part by a nuanced approach to the materials used so that the building seems to rise organically out of the earth. The exterior walls and lengthy runway deck are constructed of pine that have been treated with black algifol, a kind of concentrated algae, which gives the surface a subtle darker tint against the lighter vegetation; whilst the interiors are clad with eucalyptus. The result is, as Zegers describes it, ‘a light pavilion suspended over the landscape by steel pillars. We were able to build without making any big gestures.’
What’s more, the building’s Y-shape creates distinct volumes that solved several practical issues. Specifically, the geometrization of the rectangular forms, Zegers says, allowed both volume and emptiness. Indeed, not only does it demarcate separate wings for the owners and their children and create a garage for their collection of cars and motorbikes, but also the intersection of the three arms forms an internal piazza, which serves as passageway, porte cochere, cross-ventilation point, and a viewing platform for the tableau of the Cayumapu river and wetlands beyond.
Built on a tight budget, Ye House was initially intended to be a second home, but the clients were so taken by Zegers’ design, they sold their principal residence and moved out here permanently.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
Fenix and Federica Sala Challenge Designers to double up
Curator Federica Sala and innovative interiors material brand Fenix's Design Duo Double Feature project brings three design duos together to create dual-purpose furniture
By Ifeoluwa Adedeji Published
-
Interni Venosta is a new furniture brand by the Dimorestudio founders
Launched at Milan Design Week 2024, Interni Venosta is Dimorestudio Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci's new brand, crafted by Tuscan manufacturer Fabbri Services and paying homage to 1970s Italian design
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Gucci’s ‘Design Ancora’ reimagines furniture classics in rich red
Gucci launches new editions of Italian design icons in an alluring deep red, showcased during Milan Design Week 2024
By Simon Mills Published
-
House in the Trees offers a bird's eye view of the Chilean forest
House in the Trees by Max Núñez and Stefano Rolla is an angular Chilean cabin in woods, touching the ground lightly
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Chile’s Panguipulli Theatre brings purpose-built architecture to the learning experience
Panguipulli Theatre, a community-centred cultural space in Chile's Región de los Ríos, combines purpose-built architecture and learning
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This Chilean beach house comprises a series of pavilions set beneath a wooden roof
WYND Architects has completed a Chilean beach house – a multigenerational family retreat, raised up above a site overlooking the Pacific Ocean
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Extraordinary escapes: where would you like to be?
Peruse and lose yourself in these extraordinary escapes; there's nothing better to get the creative juices flowing than a healthy dose of daydreaming
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A modern barnhouse makes a faceted form on an exposed site in Southern Chile
Estudio Diagonal’s barnhouse project, Ridge House, is a stripped back private home that uses everyday materials and simple geometry to maximise interior space
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Year in review: top 10 houses of 2022, selected by Wallpaper* architecture editor Ellie Stathaki
Wallpaper’s Ellie Stathaki reveals her top 10 houses of 2022 – from modernist reinventions to urban extensions and idyllic retreats
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Industrialised building system prototype proposes solution for urgent housing needs
We examine an industrialized building system prototype proposal by Chilean architecture practices Ignacio Rojas Hirigoyen Architects and Cristian Dominguez Fernandez
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Roz Barr’s terrace house extension is a minimalist reimagining
Terrace house extension by Roz Barr Architects transforms Victorian London home through pared-down elegance
By Nick Compton Published