Looking for a New Direction, a Couple Build an Arrow-Shaped Off-Grid Home in Patagonia
The founders of the design studio Rima set down roots in a north-facing dwelling where they harvest their own food and electricity.
The founders of the design studio Rima set down roots in a north-facing dwelling where they harvest their own food and electricity.
Isabel Pinto and Matías Riveros traded their apartment in Santiago, Chile, for a rental home nearly 625 miles south in the Patagonian resort town of Frutillar in 2018. The idea was to raise their then-one-year-old daughter Elisa in the countryside while working remotely for their design studio, Rima, and pursuing a more sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle.
At first glance, Frutillar was everything they’d hoped for. It was quiet, safe, and scenic, surrounded by temperate rainforests and a sprawling lake that Matías could bike around. Yet, the couple quickly realized that their rental came with a fatal flaw—a lack of well-aligned windows—that made Patagonia’s cold, dark winters feel exceptionally cruel.
"I’m like a lizard who spends her days looking for the sun," explains Isabel. So, in 2020, when she and Matías enlisted Chilean architect Max Noguera, cofounder of Max-A Arquitectura, to design their first home, ample light was a top request.
See the full story on Dwell.com: Looking for a New Direction, a Couple Build an Arrow-Shaped Off-Grid Home in Patagonia
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