“The Pier House” is located on the large island of Chiloé, in southern Chile. It is a relatively flat property that borders an abrupt and green slope as it reaches the inland sea, opening up to a magnificent view.
The house is arranged parallel to the slope, forming a unitary and long volume with a large front to take better advantage of the views. The volume is worked in half floors, with the bedroom area on two levels, and an intermediate level for the public area where the kitchen, dining room and living room, access and covered terrace are located. This allows the public area, since the entire house is covered by the same roof structure, to have greater height. As the work is located between the visitor accessing the property and the sea view, we chose to open in its center a sort of transparent "window", formed by the glazed volume of the living room and the access, which allows the eye to cross the volume and understand the general layout. This window is crossed by a walkway that forms the access and leads to a viewpoint, resembling a pier and where the best view of the slope can be appreciated.
Chiloé Island is a fragile environmental site, at risk. That is why this work has been thought in an environmentally responsible way and is as autonomous as it was possible to do. Due to the scarcity of drinking water on the island, this house is designed to have the least possible impact on the consumption of this element, since its large volume is part of a rainwater collection system that allows filling a buried pond of 23,000 liters. This water is used for showers, washing, irrigation etc., after purification. The house is structured through SIP panels, specially manufactured with a grooved plywood face that is the interior finish of walls and ceilings.
The site was completely invaded by the espinillo, a plant that was introduced to the island by settlers 150 years ago to serve as a fence, but has become a dominant weed that consumes farmland and native forest. The construction site was cleaned and treated to eliminate this plant and is being replanted with native species in various strata in order to generate an associated plant community where trees predominate, with the help of our landscaper. We have already planted more than 100 trees at the site, among other species.
In addition, a series of local building traditions are integrated into this structure, such as the reuse of wood shingles, the use of tin on the facade, the color and braiding of the Chiloé facades, among others. All of this transforms this project into one that is very typical of the place where it is built.
Material Used:
1. Facade cladding:
Sheet metal coating 0,5mm, terracotta color model pt825 VA15 by VILLALBA
Reused wood shingles
2. Flooring: Tongue and groove pine boards MSD floor coating by ARAUCO WOODS
3. Construction material: Sip Panel (123,168,210 mm) by BIPANEL
4. Roofing: Sheet metal coating 0,5mm, terracotta color model pt825 VA15 by VILLALBA
5. Interior lighting: Led Studio