A “tower house” that leaves a minimal footprint on the ground

A house in this environment should be a super light element, which affects the surrounding vegetation as little as possible, generating the minimum footprint on the ground. It should be an antimythical object, but a totally site-specific piece of technology (just like NASA’s lunar module).

The house is located inside the forest, in a small clearing, to avoid cutting trees or definitively transform the land.

Is a vertical construction, with three compact floors. It is located on the northern slope of the Sierra Nevada, a mountain range in the southern Chilean Andes, part of the Conguillío National Park.

The area is surrounded by pristine forests and the active volcanoes Llaima and Lonquimay.

The site is located south of the town of Malalcahuello, just on the northern edge of the Conguillío National Park, a area of ​​infinite natural value due to its particular ecosystem that brings together native forests of araucarias, coigües, raulíes, oaks and many other species.

Despite the relative low altitude of the Andes at this latitude, it is a mountainous area with extreme weather conditions in winter, making it an excellent place for mountain skiing.

As a tower, the proposal allows reduce the footprint of the houserising above the lowest level of the forest and surpassing the treetops for clear views of the valley.

To minimize construction time, the entire structure is a prefabricated skeleton and pre-cut steel, which allowed it to be built with a small team in just a few months.

The structure was conceived as the juxtaposition of three structural systemseach one responding to the needs of each level.

On the first floor, the structure is concentrated in four supports through a spatial structure of diagonal columnsas a “tree-like” structure, which generates a central “trunk” which is closed by translucent glass.

This space is the entrance to the house and is used to store mountain equipment before entering the house. Big eaves keep snow away of its perimeter during the winter.

The second level is structured by a perimeter trellis beamlike a bridge that rests on the diagonals of the lower level.

On this second floor, bringing the structure to the perimeter allows you to clear the floor plan and locate the bedrooms and private areas of the house in a very compact scheme.

In the third level, a large concave space is obtained through an A-shaped structure, but it is outside the central axis of the plane, which allows you to open the corners of space and obtain a close relationship with the landscape and the trees that surround the house.

In this larger space, 12 meters above the ground, are the living and kitchen areas. It offers a privileged point of view of the environment, like a watchtower separated from the ground, with a close relationship with nature and the passage of time.