WATER EYE HOUSE

Location: Santiago de Chile Architect: Enrique Browne. Collaborator Architects: Tomás Swett, Paulina Fernández, and Jorge Silva. Site area: 720 sq. mt Initial Construction area: 185 sq. mt. Final Construction area with enlargement: 223 sq. mt Date: 2008

This house for sale was carried out as an alternative to the House in La Reserva, and it has the same program. Likewise, its site falls in the north-west towards the street and its best sun exposure and views are in the north, from where all the Chicureo Valley is seen. This single family house has as a centre that any young buyer with a family aspires to: a swimming pool. This, in an oval shape, is located at the centre of the site, with its shorter axis towards the north. Surrounding it, the circulations of the house develop, these having two levels due to the slope of the site. The upper curved circulation (that serves the living-dining room, kitchen and hall) receives the reflections of the sun on the water. The lower inverted circulation serves the bedrooms and has windows to the interior of the pool, as such receiving the palpitating and filtered light through the water. Since the two curves that embrace the “water eye” are at different levels, a large elevated terrace is produced, covered in grass, with the best sun exposure and towards the distant views of the site. The upper part of the house that looks to the northwest has a trellis with deciduous creeping plants, which unites the end of the parking up to the upper terrace. The main bedroom has a landscaped patio with an open air shower. The house enlarges towards the opposite side with a great space of multiple-use for the family. The roof of the upper part of the house will also be green, which attenuates the harsh temperature variation of the location.