When is a beach house not a beach house? You could argue that when it’s not located on a beach, it doesn’t count. But when an architectural typology that’s almost exclusively located on the water is moved to another landscape – like the mountains of Chile – it retains the kind of breezy, open feel that lends itself to associations with salty air and seagulls. Architecture firm WHALE! took this idea one step further by basing the design of this modern pine home on the visual of a stranded whale.
Doesn’t sound too pleasing, does it? But even if the metaphor doesn’t quite work, the house itself most certainly does, unfolding in a series of stunning minimalist pine spaces directing your gaze right out the giant floor-to-ceiling windows. The three-bedroom house is set upon a cliff in the coastal town of Tunquén, looking out onto an estuary that leads to the ocean.
“The construction system is made of rigid frames, built on pine wood (2 by 6”) and distanced 95cm, where each frame is different from another,” say the architects. “However, the roof is continuous and homogenous, trapping in a single gesture the different moments of the house.”
The sharp wedge-shaped volumes of the house projecting out over the cliff enable views from virtually all angles, from the estuary to the mountains. But most importantly – check out how pine has been put to use in such a modern context. The best part is how they stained it various shades, giving it a lighter appearance on the walls and ceilings, leaving it more natural for the floors and making it stark black outside.
