The S Home sits on Punta Pite, a rocky outcrop on the Chilean Coast, nestled between Zapallar and Papudo, about 150 kilometres north of Santiago, Chile.
Designed by Gubbins Polidura Arquitectos along with MasArquitectos, this property is a second residence for a pair and their three youngsters. The transient for this undertaking sounded easy. The location was something however.
The land drops sharply towards the ocean, a 6,500-square-metre plot with a twenty-metre fall. Standing there, you are feeling gravity first. Wind second. Then the huge, flattening pull of the horizon. The architects responded with a single, clear gesture: they made a spot to face nonetheless. A horizontal airplane drawn throughout a tough slope, so life can unfold with out continuously negotiating the bottom.
That airplane takes the shape of a big podium. It doesn’t tame the panorama; it acknowledges its pressure. Ocean, rock, sundown all stay dominant. The structure works with them, quietly however decisively, giving the household a strategy to inhabit the slope fairly than hover above it.
The home is organised as two overlapping volumes. One holds personal life, the opposite public life. This overlap issues. It permits each house to remain bodily near the terrain, whereas lowering how a lot of the home you really understand. From the higher degree, the remainder recedes. The constructing is aware of when to decrease its voice.
Bedrooms sit within the decrease quantity, excavated instantly into the bottom. This a part of the home feels embedded, virtually geological. The concrete podium is darkened with black pigment and forged utilizing unbrushed board formwork. The feel is deliberate. It welcomes climate, salt, time. Over years, the floor will accumulate marks and shifts in tone, very similar to the encircling rock faces within the ravine. Structure right here accepts ageing as a part of its life.
Above this grounded base rests the pavilion. It accommodates the dwelling, eating and kitchen areas and reads as a single, steady shadow. A concrete slab floats on twenty-one metal columns, evenly spaced and quietly exact. Transparency defines the expertise. Wherever you might be, the ocean stays in view. Mild strikes freely. Air does too.
The columns are solely 230 centimetres excessive, a selection that subtly recalibrates how the house feels. Your line of sight runs outward, straight to the horizon. The slab stays shut overhead, giving a way of shelter fairly than monumentality. You are feeling held, not dwarfed.
The form of the slab is uncommon, a three-sided amoeba developed to help seismic efficiency whereas retaining the house freed from partitions or diagonal bracing. Construction and expertise work collectively. Nothing interrupts the view. Nothing distracts from the act of being there.
Inside this way, the general public packages settle into three round recesses, one for every operate. Dwelling, eating, kitchen. Circles soften the plan. Motion turns into fluid. Conversations overlap. Kids drift between areas with out thresholds telling them the place one exercise ends and one other begins. It feels home within the truest sense – supportive, permissive, adaptable.
The home by no means insists on consideration. It creates circumstances. Shade deep sufficient for lengthy lunches. Surfaces that tolerate sand, salt, moist ft. Views that change continuously but stay reassuring. This can be a place designed for repetition: the identical breakfast desk, the identical sundown spot, yr after yr.
Panorama performs a vital function right here. Designed by Juan Grimm, it combines the lot’s pre-existing natural world with different native vegetation fastidiously set across the residence to fill gaps and soften the putting edges. Over time, the S home will seem more and more rooted, as if it has all the time belonged to this stretch of coast.
That sense of belonging feels important. This can be a household retreat, not a press release object. It holds 5 lives at totally different phases, every with their very own tempo and desires. The structure helps that quietly. It permits mess, noise, silence, retreat.
Undertaking Particulars:
- Architects: Gubbins Polidura Arquitectos, MasArquitectos
- Lead Architects: Alex Brahm, Antonio Polidura
- Location: Punta Pite, Zapallar, Chile
- Space: 4,521 ft²
- 12 months: 2020
- Images: Aryeh Kornfeld, Roland Halbe
- Panorama Design: Juan Grimm
- Structural Engineering: Alberto Maccioni / Bming
- Inside Design: Rodrigo Castillo / Proimagen
