Casa en los Guindos | DOM

This small modern house is located near Villarrica, Chile and has a view over a valley to the Villarrica Volcano. For a relatively small house, it has a fairly complex and dynamic shape. The house consists of two opposing shed-roofed volumes separated by a small courtyard. Architect Rodrigo del Castillo of Chilean studio DOM designed the two volumes to correspond to the client’s request for a house with a separate flexible-use space.

The shorter of the shed-roofed volumes is a single-level space housing the main living spaces and the master bedroom. The taller volume behind is the flex space, containing a small sitting room on the main floor with a larger room above. The owner normally uses the two rooms as a study and design studio. But, when overnight guests arrive, that part of the house can become a separate two-room guest suite with its own bathroom just down the hall.

The Villarrica area has hot summers and cold wet winters. For cold weather, the architect designed the floor plan in such a way that when the space isn’t needed, the entire second volume can be closed off from the rest of the house. That cuts the heating requirements by almost a third. The house also has extra thick walls to accommodate high levels of insulation.

To deal with the summer heat, each major room has windows on two sides for effective cross-ventilation. The veranda running along the length of the north side provides shade for the windows as well as a sheltered place to sit outside.

With 130 m² (1,399 ft²) of floor space, this certainly isn’t the smallest two-bedroom house we’ve featured here. However with a small change to the floor plan, it could be turned into a three-bedroom home. If the stairs were reversed, so they start near the front door, the study could be closed off and used as a bedroom.

Have a great weekend!

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Photographs by Alejandro Soffia Vega and Alejandro del Castillo, courtesy of DOM. Via Plataforma Arquitectura.

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