rodolfo canas designs ‘skylight house’ in santiago, chile

in santiago, chile, architect rodolfo cañas has designed a single-storey family house that may or may not become a two-storey home. conceived as ‘an isolated and intimate space that can only be discovered when you enter it’, the hermetic dwelling is withdrawn from the passing street with just an oversized skylight visible from the suburban sidewalk. below grade, a basement houses a large bedroom for the client — a married couple — that overlooks a sunken courtyard with planted trees at the rear of the site.

all images by aryeh kornfeld

the ground floor of ‘skylight house’ contains the home’s communal spaces, including the kitchen and living room, with glazing ensuring a close connection with the secluded garden at the rear of the property. elsewhere, a small bedroom is also included in addition to a bathroom. centrally positioned between the living room and the kitchen, a staircase leads to an elevated terrace that overlooks the site and the neighborhood beyond. rodolfo cañas says that, in future, this currently empty roof slab could form the missing third of the house.

the ‘stairbox,’ which doubles as a skylight covered with stainless steel, protrudes above the roof — serving as the house’s defining feature. see more chile-based projects in designboom’s archive, which includes a landmark theater for the city of concepción, a corten steel visitor center in the atacama desert, and a coastal museum designed by daniel libeskind.