Nestled in a protected forest near Villarrica volcano in the Araucanía region of Chile lies the KW House. It’s a 309-square-metre home designed to immerse guests in the beauty of the surrounding forest. Chilean architects Eugenio Simonetti and Bastian San Marin designed this two-level home for protection during winter and summer.
The first level, dubbed the “aquarium,” provides uninterrupted views of the natural scenery through expansive wall glazing. The ground floor features a large open floor plan with three staircases in the central axis. These stairs serve as boundaries for the living, dining room, and kitchen areas.
KW House uses polyurethane inside the walls, aluminum frame windows with thermal break, and Low-E thermopane windows to ensure optimal thermal regulation in each space on the first floor. In the summer, full-height glass doors on either side of the ground floor open directly to the forest for cross ventilation.
Meanwhile, in winter a perimeter corridor connects two living spaces at either end to “seal off” the house. The metallic exterior coating on the roof and walls of the second floor also protects from the rain and cold.
Speaking of the second floor, this area hosts a series of apartments each with its bathroom and staircase. The rooms have few windows but benefit from natural lighting through skylights. “If the inhabitants of the bedrooms are part of the family, the second floor works with all the doors open, in which you circulate as if you were walking through a series of train cars,” Simonetti explains of the second-floor design of KW House. Otherwise, guests must travel along the stairs since lobbies are blocked for greater privacy.
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Images courtesy of Pablo Casals Aguirre
