Komorebi House

Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus

Komorebi House 

DRAA

ARCHITECTS
DRAA

COLLABORATORS
Germán Del Rio, Linda Lanzavecchia, Nehemías Fuentes

ENGINEERING
Roberto Soto, Vertical Ingenieros

DESIGN TEAM
Nicolas Del Rio, Felipe Camus

CONSTRUCTOR
Luis Márquez

PHOTOGRAPHS
Felipe Camus

AREA
168 M²

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Frutillar, Chile

CATEGORY
Houses, Houses Interiors

Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus

House Komorebi Is a single-family dwelling designed for rent, a typology that has become common in the area and that carries the challenge to design for an anonymous but identifiable user, mostly young families moving from central to southern Chile.

Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus

The office was commissioned with the full extent of the assignment; from finding the site, identifying potential users, to the architectural proposal and following to the construction overview, giving us the opportunity to face it as a holistic approach.

In the site, initially an overlooked plot from a suburban development close to Frutillar with pristine native vegetation and a rather uncomfortable inclination, we saw a hidden potential to be used in favour of the project.

Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus

We took these two variables -inclination and dense wood- as the challenges to solve.

The first response was building a concrete base parallel to the inclination.High enough to match the ground floor level with the -rather small- flat fraction of the site, doubling the sense of horizontality when added to the interior.

Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus

On top, a two-story steel structure of single section is displaced towards the gorge, leaving the volume partly clinging and amplifying the extension effect.

The untranslatable Japanese word Komorebi embodies the feeling and atmosphere created when the light shines through trees, an experience lived in the house on a daily basis.

Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus

The sun path bathes the long facades of the house (east and west) with clear morning light from the open garden whereas the evening light becomes a major experience inside as it portrays and infinite array of colours and hues as the sun comes down through the trees.

In both floors the corridors are purposefully located to the west. Aisles of contemplation of the light through leaves.

Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus

The rooms seek oppositely the more stable morning light and distant volcano views.


Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus


Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus
Komorebi House
© Felipe Camus


Komorebi House
Second Level Plan
Komorebi House
First Floor Plan
Komorebi House
Sections
Komorebi House
Site Plan


Komorebi House
Elevations