Text description provided by the architects. The commission consists of a summer house to be located in a rural area near Rapel Lake in a region of central Chile. The main characteristic that shapes the condition of the space is the extreme heat in summer times, a time that coincides with the greatest use of the house. In response to this requirement, the house responds with two basic strategies, it’s own shade and ventilation. The house is thought of as a volume based on its own shadow, that is, the volume itself is capable of generating its own shadow through eaves at the ends of the house. A warehouse type volume, which in turn, achieves an appropriate height to move a mass of hot air away and renew it with cross ventilation. It is added to the strategy, to incorporate timber cladding to the roof to shade and microventilate the roof sheet.
With the interior itself receiving minimal direct sunlight a cool environment for its occupants can be maintained.
There is an intent to remove the kitchen as the social, active hub of the space from retreat areas such as the bedrooms and master bedroom with the kitchen receiving its own wing. In this way the volume can expand in its length, giving rest.
The tour of the length of the house involves receiving the weather, a gentle breeze to cross the hall from the kitchen, and as it is to exit and re-enter, the house obliges then, to take air as a gift of summer time.
