FUENTEALBA HOUSE BY FRANCIS PFENNIGER

The perfect hideaway in the Chilean forest

It has been clear for a while now that cabins are no longer the gloomy man-caves in which you’d expect to have minimum comfort. So you wouldn’t be surprised by the level of comfort the Fuentealba House by Francis Pfenniger offers. Facing the Castro canal in Chile, the cabin is located in a magical place, surrounded by trees.

It has been built as a family home, for children to wander freely in the magnificent surrounding environment and enjoy the safe and comfortable embrace of the cabin. It’s a place of dreams and memories, which might be why it looks like it’s floating over the hill. Yet on the other side, the Fuentealba House looks like it has always been there. This is the result of two main factors. First, the simple shape of the house was inspired by existing ruins on the site. Then the architect reused materials which highlight the feeling that the house is old and belongs to its surroundings.

In all of this, the architect also kept two things in mind: the view and the sunlight, both of which come from different directions. This way the cabin discreetly blend in and remains a shelter, a hideaway from the outside world, but inside, it is still open to sunlight and the view.