KW House / Eugenio Simonetti

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Text description provided by the architects.KW house is located in the middle of a native preservation forest based on Coihue, Ulmo and Arrayanes in front of the mountain range called El Cerduo, an ancient wild boar pass between Chile and Argentina at the foot of the Villarrica volcano in the south of Chile. The house was designed based on the following strategy:Maintenance. The climate is quite extreme, with a lot of rain and cold in winter, so a metal exterior coating was chosen for the roof and walls of the second floor, which reduces maintenance costs in the medium term. The second floor is larger than the first floor, constituting an eave that allows you to see the rain without getting the first-floor windows wet. This same eave becomes a perimeter terrace on the first floor which allows you to cover a garden of herbaceous plants and cabbages. towards the northwest.If the inhabitants of the bedrooms are part of the family, the second floor works with all the doors open, in which you circulate as if you were walking through a series of train cars, in the opposite case, if the inhabitants of the bedrooms If they are guests from outside the family unit, the lobbies are blocked, forcing guests to only travel along the stairs, which provides greater privacy.An interior exteriorized in the forest.The first floor was built as a glass aquarium based on a large open floor plan with 3 stairs that function as structure and circulation in the central axis, where the living room, dining room and kitchen are located. Wherever you are on the first floor you feel in the middle of a native forest, always with a comfortable temperature thanks to good thermal insulation based on polyurethane and an aluminum frame window with thermal break and Low-e thermopanel windows. (U value of 1.7 W/m2K)Winter house or summer house in the forest.All axes of the 3 stairs face windows on both sides which allows totally natural cross ventilation. On both sides of the dining room, folding windows were projected that allow 100% opening of the features, increasing ventilation in summer and allowing a direct connection through wooden bridges with the terrace that faces the Cerduo mountains and a path that ends in a campfire in the middle of the native forest.Compartments for family or guests.The second floor is designed as a series of apartments, each with its bathroom and staircase which allows the pieces to be connected and disconnected thanks to a series of lobbies that top the stairs, allowing different degrees of proximity to the guests.In summer the house works from the dining room to the sides from East to West, taking advantage of the folding windows, turning the dining room into a kind of open barbecue area. In winter, when it is cold, the house works completely hermetically on itself based on a perimeter circulation that connects the two recreation sectors at the ends of the house to maintain comfortable temperatures, the fireplace in the living room to the north and the living room with the wood stove towards the south.Bedrooms to rest.The second floor is the opposite of the first floor, they are just rooms for sleeping and resting, designed with few windows, little furniture and a lot of Lenga wood paneling, warm and comfortable rooms where you can no longer see the forest.  The sunlight enters from above through a series of skylights and the views look west towards the El Cerduo mountain range.