Type: Private spa
Year: 2007
Location: Leyda, San Antonio, V region
Area: 329 m2
Photographer: Camilo Melús
Structure: Manuel Ruiz
Award: Silver medal, Biennale Miami + Beach (USA), 2009

We wondered, how we could do it to design an interior space that remained visually open and connected to the exterior spaces that surround it? Based on the idea of "ramadas" (structure built for Chilean Independence Day), we were interested in the way they use eucalyptus branches, creating a wooden skin, which constantly registers daylight, changing the perception within the interior spaces of the natural environment. The "ramada" acts as a filter towards the environment: records the passage of the day through the shadows it projects and creates intermediate spaces that serve as fusion and transition between the interior and exterior. We re-interpret the "ramada" in a double skin, built in native wood, that is used as a passive sustainable strategy to control natural light, create ventilated interior spaces and provide privacy.

Also, we wanted to incorporate the circulations of the colonial houses that are protected by a roof, but in contact with the outside climate, and perimeter to the interior spaces that connect.

The project is structured through a central space, where the greatest activity is concentrated. The barbecue connects the different spaces that have to do with the pool, hot tub, stove, and they are visually connected between them. Everything is wrapped in an outer skin of wooden slats 1"x3" of ulmo that interprets the "ramada", achieving the outer-interior space sensation.