House Tuepa | Ortuzar Gebauer Arquitectos

House Tuepa designed by Ortuzar Gebauer Arquitectos, The place: a leafy removal forest mainly of Arrayanes, impenetrable, without tracks or paths which by its location, it should have privileged views towards the Canal de Yale and Lemuy island. The search for the place to locate the project was made using a large stair to peek over the treetops and that way, discover the views. The amazement, that capacity to find and amaze oneself because of something unexpected, was the important part of the place and it should also be an important part of the project- The assignment: A family meeting house, which had to welcome the family when it came complete or only a fraction of it. It had to be an intimate place, one that transmits peace and tranquillity, a place to gather the family around nature, and where the views of the site were present in each enclosure.

photography by © Gino Zavala

The project since its initial phase started to accommodate to the land recognizing the route of the sun, the levels of the terrain and the views, also allowing to keep a great quantity of the existing trees without completely cleaning the site.
From the access, the house is presented as a hermetic, gabled, linear volume, like a barn, absolutely black, which camouflage in the forest and becomes part of it.  It is accessed from the central volume, through a hall, which does not give any information about the views the place has, which allows to amaze us when discovering the views only at the moment one access the interior.

photography by © Gino Zavala

The interior, contrasting with the black of the exterior, is a white, lit space oriented towards the exterior. From the interior the project is organized in three volumes: A central, wide, common one, where is the meeting space: living room, dining room, kitchen and main terrace and another two adjacent at each end: One with the main
independent bedroom and the other: A collective volume with three bedrooms and a family room. Thus, the independent volumes are integrated with each other by a common corridor, extending formal and functionally on the terrain.
The corridor, the communicator extends longitudinally through the entire house and projects to the exterior, to the land, creating exterior spaces linked with the house. This way, the dwelling does not end in the interior, it ends on the exterior, organizing diverse landscapes situations with the forest.

Built entirely in impregnated pine wood, its exterior in black tingle and its interior with white water that reveals the grain of the wood which contrasts with the larger structures that are visible in mañío wood in 3” x 12” sections in its natural colors.
This structure was presented functional and ornamental elements, which are at the service of architecture, just like the glazed facades and the central corridor, where the structure is also furniture, shelf, support, spaces configurator, and enclosures.

photography by © Gino Zavala

Project Info:
Architects: Ortuzar Gebauer Arquitectos
Location: Teupa, Chile
Architects in Charge: Eugenio Ortúzar, Tania Gebauer
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Gino Zavala
Manufacturers: Signify, Vidrios Lirquen, Bosca, Arauco, Ceresita
Project Name: House Tuepa