A series of concrete retaining walls help support an irregularly shaped holiday home in southern Chile that was designed by architecture firm Triangular.

The PR House is located in Cunco, a city in Chile's Cautín Province. Designed for a family from Santiago, the vacation home sits on a wooded hillside that looks toward Colico Lake.

The main challenges for Triangular, a Santiago-based firm, were building a home on a steep slope and capturing views of the lake.

The team ended up creating a two-storey, 240-square-metre house that is roughly V-shaped in plan. The home is oriented in a way that provides the most extensive views of the water.

The home is set amongst a series of concrete retaining walls that enable the building to rest on the hillside. The walls intervene as little as possible in the terrain, and their graphite colour helps them merge with the site, the architects said.

Materials were chosen for their durability and ability to blend with the natural context.

Facades are clad in high-performance wood that has been chemically modified through a process called acetylation.

"This kind of cladding, provided by the company Leaf with 50 years of warranty, is perfect for the rainy climate of Cunco," the team said.

The home is topped with a pre-painted, metal-clad roof with no gutters. The contours of the roof enable the shedding of rainwater – an ideal solution in areas where leaves might otherwise clog rainwater pipes.

The exterior also has several terraces with pine decking and metal railings.

Within the dwelling, there is a separation between public and private spaces.

"This clear zoning is due to the need for ample family gathering spaces and, simultaneously, places of tranquility, with total independence from each other," the studio said.

The layout also enables adaptability of use and meets different thermal requirements during the year, the team added.

The lower level encompasses a kitchen, dining area and living room, while the upper floor holds a master suite and several additional bedrooms.

Interior finishes include knot-free pine that was provided by a local wood manufacturer.

Porcelain tiles clad a metal-and-wood floor. A seven-centimetre, concrete floor slab – about half the thickness of a regular slab – minimises vibrations and accommodates heating ducts.

Large stretches of glass offer a strong connection with the landscape, as do outdoor terraces on both levels. On the lower level, a covered patio features a built-in grill.

Other Chilean houses include an amoeba-shaped, coastal dwelling by Gubbins Polidura Arquitectos and Más Arquitectos, and a wood-clad ski cabin by Iragüen Viñuela Arquitectos that was built atop the foundation of an uncompleted home.

The photography is by Nicolás Sanchez.

Project credits:

Architecture firm: Triangular
Lead architects: Tomás Swett Amenábar, Alejandro Armstrong Ramos