A wooden lakeside cabin in southern Chile offers a new twist on the traditional barn

This lakeside cabin sits by Lake Ranco, a place known for its sandy beaches, waterfalls and dozens of islands, and something of a summer hotspot in southern Chile. The private home by architects Lezaeta Lavanchy and Tomás Tironi aims to make the most of just this stunning landscape and the views of the sparkling lake, the largest in the Los Ríos region.

Step inside this lakeside cabin in Chile

Completed in 2023, Casa Puerto Nuevo sits at the edge of a wide field overlooking the lake. ‘It is located on the border between a wide grass plateau and a Coigüe forest that descends abruptly towards Lake Ranco,’ explains Tironi. ‘To take advantage of this privileged location, the house is arranged parallel to the front side of the lot, distributing the interior spaces with the least possible circulation, to allow each room a view out to the lake.’

Tironi, who worked as Tironi Bartlau on projects such as this seaside guesthouse, has collaborated with Benjamín Lezaeta and Emilia Lavanchy on the 147 sq m house, which comprises a rectangular floorplan flanked by triangular rooms at each end. ‘The perpendicularity of the plan is broken by these rooms, resulting in a trapezoidal volume that distorts the regular geometry and perspective of the house, somehow creating an uncanny feeling,’ explains Tironi.

The structure is topped with an inclined roof, which follows the slope of the site and is inspired by the pitched roofs of surrounding barns and sheds. ‘The nearby barns and sheds are part of inspiration by default,’ says Tironi. ‘They are made entirely of wood, with exposed roof structures, and their pitched roofs have big overhangs to protect from the rain.

This type of roof is the most straightforward way to deal with rainwater, which is abundant in the region (itself named after its many rivers). What’s more, the angles between the trapezoidal box and the inclined roof make a gap between the two, allowing for more air and natural light into the rooms.

Wood is another key element of this project: ‘The main structure was built using industrial laminated timber, which was 3D-modelled, pre-fabricated with a lot of precision and then sent to the site as an assembly kit. For the exterior cladding, we used reclaimed Coigüe wood from a barn that was demolished nearby, which was then stained to match the colour of the timber structure.’

Inside there is yet more wood, with natural pine flooring and stained pine on the walls, as well as bespoke wooden furniture including the dining table, kitchen and bathroom vanities, which were all built on site.

@tironibartlau

@lezaetalavanchy