Project: House in Matanzas
Architects: Christian Izquierdo Lehmann
location: Matanaz, Chile
Area: 1,915 SF
photos by: Roland Halby
House in Matanzas designed by Cristian Izquierdo Lehmann
Cristián Izquierdo Lehmann designed the home in Matanzas – a coastal location on the edge of a stormy valley overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Chile. With just under 2000 square feet of luxurious living space, this home has stunning views.
This holiday home is located on the edge of a windy canyon facing the Pacific Ocean. The project is conceived as a central pavilion to protect from the landscape and a balcony to contemplate. The pavilion opens gradually to the outside, mediated by courtyards, while the balcony hangs above the horizon in a panoramic manner. Both are superimposed on the other, almost without touching, while maintaining their formal integrity.
The pavilion is an exposed wooden structure governed by a continuous adjustment of 67 cm, and arranged on a circular base slightly separated from the ground. It consists of a square central room, from which four rectangular pieces emanate, forming four open courtyards at its corners. The hub focuses on places to cook, eat and live. Its four vertical enclosures consist of a sliding window and wall enclosure in a 5:7 ratio, and are rotated symmetrically over the center of the plan, creating two continuous diagonal pathways between opposite courtyards.
Each wall cabinet has a different use (bookcase, TV, kitchen or fireplace) and an even door in its corners. After these the bedrooms open to a courtyard through large windows that extend twice from the central opening adjustment, and close off to the next courtyard by a wall. The center piece, bedrooms, and patios form an interconnected space atop a continuous limestone base.
The roof of the central area is arranged at a higher elevation, widening from the rest of the house on 4 columns adjoining the bedroom doors. Its structure consists of a rigid web of variable section, which tapers to its ends as its load decreases. Each square hosts a skylight in the centre, the regular repetition of which gives light similar to the outer balcony. On this surface, the house develops its face: an infinitely open terrace to contemplate aspects of the landscape suppressed by the pavilion below. Both soils are essential to mediate with the environment. This unity of purpose allows us to understand the different parts as members of the same whole.
Christian Izquierdo Lehmann
