Set on a steep hillside on the outskirts of Villa La Angostura, the house is designed to engage directly with the Patagonian landscape of lakes and mountains. The two-hectare site, with almost twenty metres of level change, lies in a low-density area where nature dominates. From its uppermost point, the plot opens onto expansive views of Lakes Nahuel Huapi and Correntoso, framed by distant mountain ranges. These conditions informed the decision to locate the house high on the slope, fulfilling the client’s brief for a single-storey dwelling that combined generous social spaces with areas of seclusion. Local regulations requiring pitched roofs of no less than thirty degrees also shaped the project’s early form.
The main house unfolds along a linear plan running perpendicular to the northern views. A central circulation spine orders the layout, with principal rooms facing north and service areas to the south. Along this route, a series of recesses and courtyards introduce
moments of privacy and lateral views across the landscape. A separate guest house sits slightly rotated to the south, together with the main volume creating an outdoor space used as a carport.
Material choices reinforce the building’s organisation and orientation. The service areas to the south employ stone-clad walls and carefully controlled openings that bring in soft, diffuse light. The north-facing living spaces, by contrast, are defined by a series of laminated timber frames and large glazed openings that open the interior to the landscape. The laminated-timber roof acts as a unifying element: a succession of pitched planes that shift in height as they move along the plan, rising above the living area to accommodate a small mezzanine. Externally, this sequence produces a silhouette that echoes the surrounding mountains, strengthening the building’s relationship with its setting.
Laminated Timber Structure — Design and Assembly
The laminated timber structure was central to the design approach. Conceived to remain fully exposed, it shapes the character of the interior through its inclined planes, shifting heights and interlocking geometries. The timber needed to work in tandem with the reinforced concrete structure that forms the service wing, and the junction between the two systems demanded particular care to maintain coherence in both form and construction. From early on, the design anticipated the different tolerances inherent to timber and concrete.
Adjustment mechanisms were incorporated to reconcile the precision of laminated timber with the broader variations typical of concrete work. Embedded steel plates, pre-assembled connections and components designed with a degree of flexibility allowed the structure to be fine-tuned during installation. These measures ensured a seamless relationship between the two systems and allowed the complexity of the design to be realised accurately on site.
