Articles by Benjamin Zapico

When walking through a forest, we can glimpse paths between the trees that are not really paths. Sometimes clearings open up on their sides, other times they continue without apparent end, getting lost in the thickets. Casa Galería proposes a way of inhabiting and walking as a continuation of the forest in which it is located. A path marked by vertical elements with clearings – or spaces to be in – attached to this route.

With the premise of “He arrived first”, Casa Tamarindo is a home that aims to explain the symbiosis between architecture and nature. The tree is the main piece and organizing axis of the architectural project. Built elements that frame nature from the main entrance to the other spaces that make up the program. The location of the walls that organize the floor plan functions as guidelines that lead us to the main entrance of the house.

With the premise of “He arrived first”, Casa Tamarindo is a home that aims to explain the symbiosis between architecture and nature. The tree is the main piece and organizing axis of the architectural project. Built elements that frame nature from the main entrance to the other spaces that make up the program. The location of the walls that organize the floor plan functions as guidelines that lead us to the main entrance of the house.

Part of Casa Wabi’s foundation mission is to encourage, and generate knowledge and new skills in the children in the region.

Part of Casa Wabi’s foundation mission is to encourage, and generate knowledge and new skills in the children in the region.

This project is part of a long process of research and experiences on the constructive possibilities offered by wood, seeking interesting spatial results, structurally efficient, environmentally friendly, and economically viable.

A hybrid of agriculture and domesticity, the greenhouse is a Siamese scenario for plant and human life. Two adjacent bodies are perfectly asymmetrical twins: half greenhouse and half exterior living room. Their contiguity favors a certain symbiosis between two dissimilar functions: an interior for plants and an exterior for people. This relationship between the living room and the greenhouse creates a microclimate that conditions the open living room throughout the year. Fruit goes to the table; hands clean the leaves.

A land with a significant slope, filled with pine and oak trees and covered by a green mantle of spring, was what we found the first time we visited the place. An environment to respect and enhance. With its own identity and characteristics. It’s beautiful when the site suggests from the beginning the place the house should occupy. The clearing of light between the pines even drew its dimension, marking its boundaries that did not grow with the desire to maintain all the trees and alter the terrain as little as possible. Therefore, the structure starts from the natural level, supported on a wall from which a strutted cantilever originates. From there, you can enjoy the views of the privileged pine forest that we already intuited, during the pleasant picnics we had in what now occupies the terrace. In it, a gap is cut to let the trunk of a pine tree pass.

It is a hotel located on the big island of Chiloé, inspired by rural settlements and Patagonian ranches, which provides a shelter to contemplate the extreme and changing climate of Chiloé’s landscapes. The Estancia is located on the Rilan peninsula, known for its winding green meadows, views of the channels and islands of the Chiloé archipelago, and small rural villages with a country lifestyle.