2018 MCHAP
Ghat House
Max Nunez
Cachagua, Chile
January 2016
PRIMARY AUTHOR
Max Nuñez
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Stefano Rolla (Associate Architect)
CLIENT
Michele Bunout
PHOTOGRAPHER
Roland Halbe Erieta Attali
OBJECTIVE
The inclined surface of the roof is parallel to the natural slope of the site and it’s occupied by a large stair with unusual proportions for a domestic program. Below this oblique plane a diagonal interior space contains the different programs of the house. The monotony of the free plan is redefined by the slope, creating an interior topography of varying levels with different sizes and heights. The roof is supported by 15 concrete columns with different sizes and shapes. Their geometry was determined by their structural needs and its heterogeneous shapes manage to individualize each column as a singular element, avoiding the reading of a rigid structural grid ordering the plan. Each column generates a particular point in space and the framing of the landscape between them is always diverse. Four lighter volumes cladded in wood interfere with the surface of the roof and the space below it. Three of these volumes contain the private rooms, and the fourth, smaller in dimensions, contains a direct access to the roof from the inside. These volumes are located under, beside, and above the roof, establishing ambiguous relations between the private and public areas of the house.
CONTEXT
The house is located on a terrain that has a 25º inclination, facing the Pacific Ocean, above the beach of Cachagua, 2 hours away from the city of Santiago. The design, structure, internal organization, and the lifestyle proposed within the house were determined by the pre-existing conditions of the topography. Rather than creating a flat surface where to develop the house, the project began by acknowledging that the oblique surface was a potential for redefining the program of a beach house and its relations.
PERFORMANCE