SubscribeSign In
l
Project posted by Lito Tejada-Flores

Casa Mármol (Marble House)

View 18 Photos
Location
Year
2008
Structure
House (Single Residence)
Style
Modern
The marble cliff below Casa Mármol drops 300 feet into the blue water of Lago General Carrera.
The marble cliff below Casa Mármol drops 300 feet into the blue water of Lago General Carrera.
One of the two large marble caverns beneath Casa Mármol.
One of the two large marble caverns beneath Casa Mármol.
The second cavern at water level beneath Casa Mármol, easily accessible in a kayak.
The second cavern at water level beneath Casa Mármol, easily accessible in a kayak.
The great room in Casa Mármol with the polished marble bedrock around which the house was constructed. The owners easily opted for minimalistic furnishing and decor, given the ever chaging drama of the Patagonian scenery and weather outside the large window grids.
The great room in Casa Mármol with the polished marble bedrock around which the house was constructed. The owners easily opted for minimalistic furnishing and decor, given the ever chaging drama of the Patagonian scenery and weather outside the large window grids.
Casa Mármol, the great room at night. The irregular metal corrugated ceiling panels are known as "placa colaborante" and are usually used as forms for pouring lightweight cement floors in multi-story office buildings in the capital.
Casa Mármol, the great room at night. The irregular metal corrugated ceiling panels are known as "placa colaborante" and are usually used as forms for pouring lightweight cement floors in multi-story office buildings in the capital.
Another view of the polished marble bedrock in the floor of the main room in Casa Mármol. The sinuous shape of the marble is natural, the result of simply cutting a flat plane through the protruding marble at the top of the cliff. Even the "coffee table" needed to be transparent, in order not to hide the beautiful marble shape on the floor, surrounded by square slate tiles.
Another view of the polished marble bedrock in the floor of the main room in Casa Mármol. The sinuous shape of the marble is natural, the result of simply cutting a flat plane through the protruding marble at the top of the cliff. Even the "coffee table" needed to be transparent, in order not to hide the beautiful marble shape on the floor, surrounded by square slate tiles.
The kitchen in Casa Mármol. Marble counter tops continue the marble theme but they are imported, and not from the region nor from our marble bluff. The counters themselves are all made from local lenga wood (or native Nothofagus beech).
The kitchen in Casa Mármol. Marble counter tops continue the marble theme but they are imported, and not from the region nor from our marble bluff. The counters themselves are all made from local lenga wood (or native Nothofagus beech).
The bedroom in Casa Mármol with a view west to the northern Ice Field.
The bedroom in Casa Mármol with a view west to the northern Ice Field.
The main bath in Casa Mármol, the Italian free-standing tub was found quite by accident in a shop in Viña del Mar.
The main bath in Casa Mármol, the Italian free-standing tub was found quite by accident in a shop in Viña del Mar.
The east side of Casa Mármol. The lenga posts not only support the eaves but also hold them down in Patagonia's occasional high winds. These eaves (called "aleros" in Spanish) are a crucial element in the design of Marble House, since they protect the extensive northern glazing from the summer sun. Naturally north, looking toward the lake, is both the solar direction in the southern hemisphere, and also the orientation of the most spectacular mountain views.
The east side of Casa Mármol. The lenga posts not only support the eaves but also hold them down in Patagonia's occasional high winds. These eaves (called "aleros" in Spanish) are a crucial element in the design of Marble House, since they protect the extensive northern glazing from the summer sun. Naturally north, looking toward the lake, is both the solar direction in the southern hemisphere, and also the orientation of the most spectacular mountain views.
The terrace on the north or lake side of Casa Mármol: 40cm square gray slate tiles extend the slate floor of the house. Multi-pane windows on the lake side were an obvious solution given the difficult transportation options to reach the site on a very challenging dirt road—the Carretera Austral—that is actually the main and often the only road running through northern Chilean Patagonia.
The terrace on the north or lake side of Casa Mármol: 40cm square gray slate tiles extend the slate floor of the house. Multi-pane windows on the lake side were an obvious solution given the difficult transportation options to reach the site on a very challenging dirt road—the Carretera Austral—that is actually the main and often the only road running through northern Chilean Patagonia.
The northern or lake side of Casa Mármol in early evening.
The northern or lake side of Casa Mármol in early evening.
Another evening view looking west across the lake toward the peaks and glaciers of the Northern Ice Fields
Another evening view looking west across the lake toward the peaks and glaciers of the Northern Ice Fields
The eastern view from Casa Mármol, looking towards Argentina, at sunset
The eastern view from Casa Mármol, looking towards Argentina, at sunset
A zen-like rock garden of pure white marble pebbles collected on the beach just east and below Casa Mármol, at evening.
A zen-like rock garden of pure white marble pebbles collected on the beach just east and below Casa Mármol, at evening.
The northwest corner of Casa Mármol, our bedroom, looking west toward the highest peaks and glaciers in Patagonia that rise to 14,000 feet above Lago General Carrera which itself is only 700 feet above sea level.
The northwest corner of Casa Mármol, our bedroom, looking west toward the highest peaks and glaciers in Patagonia that rise to 14,000 feet above Lago General Carrera which itself is only 700 feet above sea level.
The western side of Casa Mármol. The house is clad in corrugated galvalum, inspired by similar narrow corrugations in the metal cladding of historic neighborhoods in Valpariso. These narrow corrugations are no longer commercially available in Chile so we found a press in an old workshop that could produce them from flat galvanized sheets. The green area was self-seeded by volunteer, wind-carried local plants, and is only a small area of fill dirt scraped off the top of the bluff to create the flat house site—not very solid, like the solid rock underneath the house.
The western side of Casa Mármol. The house is clad in corrugated galvalum, inspired by similar narrow corrugations in the metal cladding of historic neighborhoods in Valpariso. These narrow corrugations are no longer commercially available in Chile so we found a press in an old workshop that could produce them from flat galvanized sheets. The green area was self-seeded by volunteer, wind-carried local plants, and is only a small area of fill dirt scraped off the top of the bluff to create the flat house site—not very solid, like the solid rock underneath the house.

Details

Square Feet
1600
Lot Size
50 acres
Bedrooms
1
Full Baths
1

Credits

Posted by
Architect
Pedro Staudt, Staudt Architecture, Coyhaique, Chile
Landscape Design
Builder
Winter Panel Chile
Photographer
Linde Waidhofer

From Lito Tejada-Flores

Marble House (Casa Mármol in Spanish) is a house that was difficult to imagine and almost impossible to build. Sited on a marble bluff, 300 feet above the second largest lake in South America and more than a 5-hour drive, on a bad dirt road, from the nearest lumber yards and building supply businesses in southern Chile's remote Aysén province in Patagonia, Marble House was a four-way collaboration between the graphic-designer owner, a sculptor, a young Chilean architect, and a retired Chilean admiral who has become a pioneer in building with SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) in some of the remotest most rugged regions of Chile. The house was planned and modeled by Lito Tejada-Flores, the designer-owner, using SketchUp. But the first big problem was a large boulder-like marble outcrop that was actually part of the bedrock of the cliff which was only exposed when a flat platform was cut for the house site. The owners' friend, Colorado sculptor, John Reeves, spent 6 weeks, cutting and chiseling away, and then polishing this protruding mass of marble. And the following summer, Casa Mármol was built around this polished free-form marble shape which ultimately became the very heart of the house. A brilliant young Chilean architect with German-Argentine roots, Pedro Staudt, took on the challenge of translating the owner's ideas and his 3D fantasy sketches into real, practical, and buildable architectural plans. He made it all work. Finally, ex-admiral Claudio Aguayo's firm, Winter Panel Chile—located near Viña del Mar, over 2,000 kilometers north of Lake Carrera—used Pedro's Auto-Cad drawings to manufacture, precut and then pre-fit all the 25cm thick SIP panels together on their factory floor. Thus making Marble House almost a prefab project. With the precise organization of a naval logistics campaign, not only all the panels but every screw, every tube of caulking, every single element of the entire house was brought from the north in three multi-day truck-trailer trips. Winter Panel's amazing crew of 6 builders (each one a specialist: an electrician, a plumber, a ceramicist, a finish carpenter, a painter and their leader a concrete foundation expert) took 3 months, during three separate trips, to assemble and complete Marble House on top of its high cliff. The result has been a magical dwelling, finished on time and on budget—even better than anyone including the owners had hoped. Casa Mármol may be the best insulated house in Aysén. It has the most amazing view of the most beautiful lake that almost no one has ever heard of. (Lago General Carrera is almost unknown because Chile and Argentina, the two countries that share this trans-Andean lake, each give their half of the lake a different name). At night from Casa Mármol one doesn't see the lights of a single other house in our entire 180º view of this giant lake. And 300 feet below the house two large marble caverns at water level create a fairytale atmosphere that one can visit in a kayak. The whole story of the construction of Casa Mármol can be seen at www.westerneye.com/cas...