Architecture Wednesday: Las Escaleras

Las Escaleras sits on the edge of a cliffs, 200 feet above the sea, on Tumbes Península in Chile. The home was designed to take in views of the land and the sea, as simply and easily as possible.

To do that, the home was built in longitudinal black containers sitting in the descending levels—‘las escaleras’ translates to ‘the stairs’—toward the edge of the land. And so these dark, basic volumes transform, open up, into illuminated, open and transparent spaces facing the sea cliffs.

To the Northeast are the bedrooms, while the social areas are in the Northwest portion of the house, but the house feels open and accessible, thanks to wide expanses of glass and the high ceilings, held aloft by Cypress logs used as the columns and beams.

But, still, it’s the outside of the house that calls to you, with the walk through the trees toward the cliffs, and the decks and terraces and outdoor kitchen, to make you want to stay there all day.

Click to emBIGGERate the floorplan.

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