Casa Arco in Chile

The decisions taken in the design of this house were the reaction to an accident. It was created for an artists couple, by the Chilean architecture firm Pezo Von Ellrichshausen. They had previously been living together in a big old house on the side of a hill, but this was destroyed during the earthquake that devastated central Chile in 2010. The house is a vertical structure with a small rectangular (1:2) floor plan, built in Conception, Chile. An almost blind plinth of concrete sealed with asphalt is used to embed the house into the natural terrain. From this plinth emerge six steel 250 × 250 × 8 mm columns; the beams scarcely alter in thickness from one floor to the next. This rigid-frame structure defines six equal rooms. To this we simply added a compact piece of furniture which serves as a support for the units and the services. At the centre of gravity of the floor, the crossbeams are duplicated in order to create a vertical circulation in which the 45º intersecting nodes are bracing squares and double-landing steps. The staircase splits the house across the middle and connects the living rooms on the upper ground floor with drawing studios on the first floor and the bedroom and bathroom on the second floor. Crossbeams either side of the staircase provide extra structural support and create the framework for built-in furniture. The steel components have been fireproofed and brightly enamelled with a coarse grain.

[Ref.] http://www.dezeen.com/2012/11/21/earthquake-proof-house-in-chile-photographed-by-cristobal-palma/