Whale! Designs Casa Asomada, a Snake-Inspired Clifftop House in Tunquén, Chile

Casa Asomada, a 255 sq m vacation house by Chilean studio Whale!, rises on a wooded clifftop site in Tunquén, Chile, with long views of the Pacific Ocean. The design draws on the archetypal form of a snake: coiling and raising its head to look into the distance. Two interlocking volumes negotiate the steep terrain. The first holds the shared spaces — kitchen, living room, dining room — plus a guest bedroom, and opens onto a courtyard enclosed by concrete walls with a barbecue and storage. The second volume contains two children's bedrooms on the lower level and a primary en suite bedroom above, with a shared bathroom nearby. A continuous roof envelops the composition, which the architects describe as a single, quiet body that retreats into the landscape for shelter and emerges to grasp the depth of the horizon. Whale! participated in the 2018 Wallpaper* Architects' Directory. The house appears small from afar against the blue waters and sparsely built surroundings, yet offers generous accommodation.