Light, air and shadow are "core design tools" for Chilean courtyard house

Chilean studio Paralelo Transversal has utilised passive strategies, including multiple courtyards for ventilation, in the design of a house oriented around a skylight on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile.

Casa con Lucarna was completed in 2024 with 3,250 square feet (302 square metres) of interior space, divided by open-air bays that help it cool in the warm climate.

"Casa con Lucarna was inspired by the need to respond to a hot climate using passive strategies – light, air and shadow as the core design tools," the team at Paralelo Transversal told Dezeen.

The focal point of the house is a large skylight – or lucarna – that brings softened, natural light into the main living space, located at the centre of the house, which is divided into organising modules.

The skylight juts out of the roof as the only vertical element of the otherwise horizontal design.

A triangular truss, supported on black steel columns, holds the profile of the skylight, which has frosted glass to dilute the light as it streams into the seating area below.

Shaded patios separate interior programs and promote cross ventilation, while deep overhangs reduce heat gain. With no active systems, the house relies on its arrangement for thermal comfort.

The house is organised in a gradient from public to private with the social areas – outdoor terraces and a barbecue area – located on the eastern end of the plan, moving through family spaces of the living, dining and kitchen areas in the centre, to the bedrooms on the western side.

The planted patios are framed in floor-to-ceiling panes of glass, allowing views through the home.

"At the far end lies the main bedroom, which overlooks the rest of the house and includes an exterior bathroom protected by a slatted wood screen that shields the west-facing facade from the sun," the studio said.

"The result is both functional and climatically effective."

The steel framework is elevated above the ground to enhance ventilation.

Warm wooden cladding fills in the framework as vertical boards and screens.

The standard-sized materials optimised cost and construction. A concrete walkway, raised just one step above the ground, connects the various outdoor spaces and separates the house from the lawn and gravel driveway.

"Exterior colors and materials – mainly wood – were selected to blend into the natural surroundings, while white interiors reflect light and enhance brightness," the studio said.

A minimised interior palette with – soft white walls, natural wood floors, black metal accents and framed wooden doorways – emphasises spatial flow and the home's light, which was seen as a material itself, the studio explained.

"The combination of a compact, efficient plan with a strong compositional gesture – the lucarna – gives the house a distinct identity while remaining simple and cost-conscious," the studio said.

Other homes recently constructed that centre around skylights include a California home with an underground workshop by Ogawa Fisher Architects, a rural New Zealand home with large circular openings in the roof by Kenshaw McArthur and the renovation of a 1960s Oregon house by SHED Architecture & Design.

The photography is by Marcos Zegers.

Project Credits:

Architecture: Paralelo Transversal
Lead architects: Sebastián Silva, Matías Baeza
Construction: Constructora Dewman
Collaborators: Juan Pablo Peró

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