PABELLÓN GALEO
Back in 2020, while we were residing in Spain, a client approached us with a peculiar and entertaining request: to design a completely separate and independent lodging unit that could house his adolescent children and allow them to entertain guests on the same site as the main vacation home the family already owned in Chorrillos, on the Chilean coast. “We’ve completed the earthworks and the landscape retaining walls are also in place, so there’s an 8 by 8 meters clearing ready to receive the pavilion. I’d like to start the construction in about a month's time,” he added.
Given the tight schedule and the implementation being already decided, the architectural response needed to be precise. We devised the project through simple lines that could easily blend into and complement its surroundings in order to form a harmonious part of the entire ensemble, all the while making the most of the site’s impressive views and plentiful sunshine.
An extensive green roof covers the pavilion as it sits in a close proximity to the main house and at its floor level, providing continuity in the landscape and acting as a buffer of sorts between the inhabitants of each. A continuous glazed band separates the roof plane from the pavilion’s facade walls, reflecting the surrounding vegetation and adding visual permeability while alleviating the volume simultaneously.
Since the pavilion was conceived primarily as a space for holding gatherings, the largest portion of its floor surface is reserved for an open-plan living and dining space with an indoor barbecue, while all of its 6 bunk beds lay behind movable panels that can be piled up and rearranged as to integrate the two areas completely.
The main space opens up entirely, both visually and literally, towards the ocean views, as it is clad in large sliding windows that allow for absolute permeability between the interior and the exterior. Thus the entire pavilion becomes a semi-exterior, acting as a quincho: a quintessential space in the Chilean culture and the backdrop of virtually all social gatherings, inevitably featuring a barbecue.
In contrast, the pavilion’s posterior façades, the ones facing the main house and the neighbors, remain opaque. Clad in darkened wood boards, they seek to blend seamlessly into the shadows cast by the surrounding vegetation.
Given the pavilion’s small scale, we aimed at reducing the visual noise in its interior. A reduced material and color palette was rigorously applied to all of the elements composing it, from finishes to furniture alike. Thus a semi-transparent black stain was used on laminated wood composing the entirety of its visible structural elements, matching the tone of the exterior pine boards.
The rest of the wooden elements to the interior, was treated with a colorless stain: plywood boards were applied to all vertical surfaces - be it wall finishes, sliding panels, doors, or kitchen and bathroom cabinets; and solid pine wood was used for the floors and larger custom made furniture, such as dining benches or bunk beds. Thus all of these elements, which could otherwise crowd the already reduced floor space, blend away as to enhance the overall spaciousness.
The decision to use pine and plywood largely has to do with keeping the costs at bay on the one hand, and making the best use of the local workforce’s experience and confidence in handling it as the main building material. Thanks to this, small luxuries could be afforded in form of bespoke granite and metal dining table and bathroom lavatory that match the kitchen countertop, reflecting on their surface the surrounding trees and the horizon.
