Calfuco Refuge – Valdivia, Chile
Title
Calfuco Refuge – Valdivia, Chile
Website
Designed by
Tomás de Iruarrizaga
Image Credit
© Federico Cairoli
Project Description
Project description provided by Tomás de Iruarrizaga - This small 50 m² shelter is located near Valdivia, on Chile’s Pacific coast, nestled within the dense and humid Valdivian rainforest. The client sought a small cabin for vacation use, and the main challenge was to reinterpret the well-established concept of a traditional cabin.
We proposed a very narrow tower, raised off the ground on concrete piers, oriented toward the northern light and occupying a minimal footprint. The plan is a small rectangle — four meters wide by seven meters long — that fits snugly between a cluster of trees, rising ten meters from the ground up to the canopy.
The structure is divided into two very compact floors: the first level includes a small entrance hall that doubles as a corridor connecting the bedrooms, the single bathroom, and the staircase. The second level features an open-plan space combining the living area and kitchen, which feels spacious and noble as it opens toward the landscape. Interior heights shift between the minimum needed to move comfortably and dimensions that acknowledge the surrounding scale of the forest.
The form is conceived as a compact, sharply defined volume — a prism with acute angles that stands in stark contrast to the natural surroundings. The interiors, clad in laurel wood, are warm and tactile; everything feels like built-in furniture, much like in boats, where frames and keels are exposed. The gabled roof features a diagonal ridge beam running across the volume like a fishbone spine. The entire structure was cut and built on site using only traditional carpentry tools, without any digital fabrication methods.
