Architect Juan Pablo Ureta designed Sweet Water House from prefabricated wooden panels and situated it near a beach called Aguadulce, or Sweet Water. The home is near the Huentelauquén town, which is about 300 km north of Santiago.
The house is located on Chile’s northern coast and constructed from laminated timber from the beams, columns, and bearing walls. The only concrete elements aside from the foundation are the vertical slabs found at the front and rear entrance. Ureta oriented the living spaces in an L-shape around a central courtyard and separated the main volume from the guest rooms.
Guests can access both volumes via a ramp that leads to an enclosed deck. Instead of interior corridors, Ureta chose a series of walkways to connect various parts of the Sweet Water House. “Both elements touch tangentially, but it is only possible to transit from one to the other through the terraces. This space is the core of the entire project and has different elements that help enhance the experience of inhabiting the outside.”
Outside of the two volumes, architects also constructed a third smaller structure that serves as a home gym. Meanwhile, a narrow opening leads to a central courtyard that is the heart of the project. The courtyard comes with a swimming pool, an oval fire pit, and an outdoor kitchen outfitted with a barbeque, storage spaces, and sink.
Moreover, the Sweet Water House features a sliding glass wall that generates a generous opening to the courtyard. Although the interior and exterior spaces orient towards the courtyard, the home also features a short flight of stairs that lead down to a patch of land facing the ocean. This offers a different experience and allows guests to enjoy the sea views.
Learn More Here
Images courtesy of Nico Saieh
