Entreluz House – A Sustainable Retreat in Algarrobo, Chile

Entreluz House, designed by Pablo Padilla Carvacho and Jesús del Río Enrico, is a 78 m² architectural retreat located in Algarrobo, Chile. Surrounded by a lush ravine filled with native vegetation, the house was designed to coexist harmoniously with its natural environment. Elevated on stilts and cantilevered towards the ravine, the structure minimizes its footprint, allowing the native landscape to regenerate and thrive beneath it.

Nature-Integrated Design

The house takes inspiration from a Palapa, functioning as a large covered terrace that blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor living. Its wooden structural system, influenced by steel frame construction, uses composite beams, pillars, joints, and bolts, ensuring durability while reducing construction time.

This approach allows for flexible, independent interior layouts with fluid circulation corridors along the perimeter, encouraging seamless interaction between residents and the surrounding forest.

Passive Bioclimatic Strategies

Sustainability is at the core of Casa Entreluz. Oriented to the north, the house incorporates passive design strategies to optimize solar control and thermal comfort. The carefully calculated eave provides controlled sunlight throughout the year, while the colihue roof offers natural shading and ventilation. This ensures comfortable interior temperatures during summer while maintaining a soft interplay of light and shadow throughout the day.

The Essence of “Entreluz”

The name Entreluz (“Between Light”) reflects the poetic ambiance created by the filtered daylight passing through the colihue mantle. The shifting patterns of shade and texture enrich the architectural experience, making the home a true embodiment of nature, light, and architecture working as one.

All Photographs are works of Marcela Melej