The Architectonic Elements in the Caterpillar House in Santiago, Chile
Situated in Lo Barnechea, Santiago Chile is a modern home overlooking the dry landscape with amazing panoramic views all over the place. This house is better known as the Caterpillar House. Well this house design is intended for an art collector and his family. There are two main purposes in building this house; first, to integrate into the territory of this part of the city where the presence of the Andes Mountain is extremely strong both visually and tectonically. Also, it is said that the presence of the Andes is considered to be an obvious background which needs to be highlighted. Another is this will allow the air outside to run smoothly and easily in the entire house as well as the other parts to be able to avoid the mechanical cooling.
With the exceptional design and concept, the designer strategically made the proposed integration of the territory to the house. He made sure that it should be composed of the proper placement of the volumes of the house as it seems lying on the slope. The said integration of the house to its location allows the volumes to be combined with the slope. This generated from the entrance of the house directly to the sleeping rooms of the children. These sleeping rooms are designed to be inclined with the inner space which is both the skylight and the bed in the room. Now let’s take time to tour around the house and be amazed with the interior and exterior of this Caterpillar House through its images below.
The geometric volume of this house is highlighted in this man’s perspective view.
The combination of wooden and glass materials are highly emphasized here together with the panoramic view on the background.
Small swimming pools are installed in the lower level of this house to provide more comfort to the homeowner.
While enjoying the cold water in this small pool, the client may also take the full advantage of natural scenic view in the surroundings.
The parallel formation and combination of glass and wooden materials are stressed in this house structure.
The living room usually welcomes the natural light and fresh air in the morning to let the client feel the richness of nature.
Dark brown and silver palette is utilized in this kitchen to display a more classic and contemporary design and style.
This displays enough space in the kitchen where the homeowner can freely move and perform its household chores.
The exterior can still be viewed on this area while using this stairs to the next level of the house.
In the second level of the house, you may see the other parts of the interior that offers comfort and style.
Here is the huge master bedroom that displays different lines, shapes and textures.
In daytime, the sun’s rays can freely enter the kid’s bedroom thru its glassed windows.
The black and white palette used in this bathroom together with the glass materials and latest fixtures are enough to display a contemporary bathroom.
Here is one of the best spot in the house where the client can just sit down and unwind while staring at the beauty of the earth.
The lights installed in every part of the interior plays an important part in making this house attractive even at night.
As you can see the proposed interstitial spaces increased the house perimeter which allows the natural light and air all throughout the house. As a consequence of this will, windows and doors are aligned along the axes that cut the stripes, facilitating the air movement and creating visual integration. It has three construction phases, first is the placement of the retained walls to be able to create a horizontal place for the public areas of the house. Another is mounting of the containers and ensemble them on top to place the private areas.
The containers were wrapped with a Unitarian material which at the time integrates the parts and also creates a ventilated facade that maintains the temperature of the interior spaces. Definitely we can obviously see the architectonic elements such as windows, doors, and skylights which are rationalized and repeated all over the house. This is utilized not just to minimize the cost but also to create and integrate architectonic peace. Thus the Sebastián Irarrázaval successfully achieved its goal in creating the design and concept of this Caterpillar House, right?
