The project is divided into four stages, during which the architects are invited to design and build houses without any interaction at all with the owner, and following a few simply rules: they have to use concrete as the primary material, they are limited to a surface area of around 250 m2 and they must comply with a pre-defined maximum budget.
Stages 3 and 4 of the project are currently under way in Ocho Quebradas, an ideal location on the Chilean coast, about 200 km north of the capital of Santiago. Eight Chilean architects and eight Japanese architects were each invited to design and build a house according to the above rules.
The first Ocho Quebradas house was delivered this year by Tokyo-based architect Ryue Nishizawa (西沢 立衛 Nishizawa Ryūe), who is the director of his own firm, Office of Ryue Nishizawa, and co-founder of SANAA. This breathtaking project is a perfect combination of concrete and glass. The broad, frameless windows stretch from floor to ceiling offering a magnificent, unbroken view over the ocean and the surrounding natural environment. The windows are made of 1212.4 laminated glass with Planibel Clearvision supplied by AGC Glass Europe and laminated by Dialum in Chile. This ultra-clear glass combines seamlessly with the wavy concrete structure, ensuring the entire structure blends harmoniously into the natural landscape.
