Casa Tumán is a private villa in the central coastal region of Chile built primarily with locally sourced materials. And for the large part with our own hands. After translating our ideas for the house into a design plan we headed off to Chile, rolled up our sleeves and joined two other builders to get our hands dirty.

The layout of this tailor-made surfer’s holiday home, was inspired by the way independent rooms were linked by a shared courtyard or balcony in traditional colonial farmhouses. The small floor plan of Casa Tumán is laid out in 6 modules: four bedrooms, one bathroom and a kitchen. Each living space has direct access to a generous roofed terrace with a magnificent view of the sea – an open air living room.

The post-and-beam wooden construction with straw bale infill walls and clay-plaster provides high insulation value and breathability. Plaster regulates humidity, the straw bale acts as a passive solar heating and sound insulation, and the windows and door openings take care of the cross ventilation.