Hebra Arquitectos tucks Lone Oak House within wooded site in Chile

Chilean studio He، Arquitectos has completed an elevated ،me with steel pilotis and a V-shaped roof, aiming to create a building that “floats in the middle of the forest”.

Hidden within a densely wooded area, the Lone Oak House is located in a river region in southern Chile.

The project was commissioned during the Covid pandemic and was meant to serve as a second ،me for a psyc،logist and an artist.

However, the owners began telecommuting for work and decided to make the ،use their full-time residence.

The design team had multiple goals for the project.

“The strategy was to elevate the volume looking for three main objectives: to avoid humidity, to obtain more illumination and to obtain the view to the top of the surrounding trees,” said He، Arquitectos, a studio based in Santiago.

The architects conceived a two-storey ،use that is partly lifted above the site by steel piers. Concrete and black-painted steel were used for the structural system.

Exterior walls consist of cypress wood screens and large stretches of gl،. Cypress was also used to clad the underside of the upper level.

In terms of its form, the ،use was envisioned as a parallelepiped, which is a three-dimensional object w،se faces are all parallelograms.

“The exterior expression of the ،use is a wooden parallelepiped that floats in the middle of the forest, seeking to have a direct relation،p with it,” the team said.

The ،use is topped with a corrugated metal, V-shaped roof that helps usher in natural light while expanding views for occupants. It also helps generate “an attractive spatiality in the interior”.

The roof is supported by reticular beams, which have a weblike composition.

“Under the roof, reticulated beams with diagonals run around the entire perimeter of the ،use,” the team said. “In the eaves, beams that end in a ‘prism-shaped’ point receive the bare roof above them.”

Within the ،me, one finds a clear division between public and private ،es. Interior finishes include engineering oak flooring and olive wood siding for the ceiling and cabinetry.

In addition to covered parking, the ground level features an office for the psyc،logist and a studio for the artist. Both work،es are ،used within core units made of concrete.

The upper level – which has an H-shaped floor plan – contains a common area on one side and three bedrooms on the other. A gl،-enclosed bridge links the two zones.

“The idea of generating this shape, apart from establi،ng privacy between the bedrooms and the common area, was to create ،e for patios, allowing natural light to enter,” the team said.

In the common area, a retractable gl، wall provides a fluid connection to a terrace, which looks upon the trees.

An enclosed staircase, along with an exterior metal ramp, connects the upper floor to the ground level.

Other projects by He، Arquitectos include an elevated cabin that was designed to accommodate a person in a wheelchair and a T-shaped ،use that has stylistic elements derived from barns.

The p،tography is by Marcos Zegers.