This beach house is located on the Tacna hill, an elevated plateau facing the Pacific, a few kilometers south from the town of Maitencillo. The house becomes an extension of the beach where you can walk freely with sand on your feet. The house is an elevated platform, 3.8mts above ground level, which holds the two independent volumes of living and bedrooms, and a third one underneath, for visitor’s bedrooms. These volumes are freely placed on the platform, to leave part of it unoccupied, so interiors can easily incorporate exteriors. Hence, the connection between these 3 volumes it’s always exterior, using what’s left of the platform for it. The platform’s height and plan rotation, grants the best view, towards the ocean and the summer sunset. Also, the terrace reassures it’s privacy with the kitchen-living room’s volume, which acts as a limit against the unwanted neighbor’s sneak eye. As for the living room’s inside space, it’s widely incorporated to the terrace by the movement of 3 of its 4, 2.3x2.3mt glass sliding windows, resulting a duplication of its area.

The structure is planned in order to leave as much space below the platform as possible. This will allow the garden works to use the plot almost entirely, and eventually build a pool. This is accomplished by the visitors bedrooms box and a V shaped pillar structural axis, which provides the necessary seismic resistance while giving a defined structure a expression. The house is built in impregnated pine wood, as it is most of the neighbouring houses. The whole Schedule, from planning until finished, took 10 months.

Max Núñez (1976) studied architecture at the Universidad Católica de Chile achieving his degree and a Master in Architecture in 2004. He did pre graduate studies at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, during 1998-99. In 2010 he achieved a Master in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, New York, where he received the Lowenfish Memorial Prize, and the William Ware Prize for Excellence in Design. He is currently a Studio Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His work has been published in different magazines and books, and has been included at architecture biennals in Chile and abroad. He has been invited to show his work at universities in Chile, USA, Argentina, Ecuador and Spain.