Project: Slope House
Architects: Hsu-Rudolphy
Lead Architects: Ian Hsü, Gabriel Rudolphy
Location: Lake Rapel, Chile
Area: 245 m2
Project Year 2018
Photography: Hsu-Rudolphy
Slope House is located on the edge of Lake Rapel, two hours from the city of Santiago de Chile. The project is composed of three levels. On the upper floor are the common spaces of the living room, kitchen, dining room, terrace, and services. This level has a roof, an inclined plane that gives hierarchy to the spaces with their height ranging from 4m to 2.7m.
On the middle floor, the three bedrooms and bathrooms are located, and finally, the lower floor has a versatile living space, with a second terrace, which connects with the ground and the lake.
The design consists of an elementary structure of steel and concrete, which intervenes little in the field, and then receives a skin of wood and glass. We wanted to find simple solutions, simple finishes, but arranged efficiently, to achieve an optimal result for users, with low maintenance and high durability and finally move their inhabitants with the quality of the spaces and their relation with the landscape.
The architectural proposal raises two main concepts. Lake views and conservation of the natural environment. To achieve both, the house is located perpendicular to the slope of the land, generating small and precise terraced levels, to avoid large earthworks and on three compact levels, to decrease the occupation and erosion of the land, achieving good height and views.
The idea is to integrate the architectural volume into the natural environment surrounded by trees as if born from the ground. Our intention was to achieve a harmonious dialogue between the artificial and the natural. The accesses are designed as walkways that connect the building at its different levels, with the natural terrain and its path between the trees.
