Paralelo Transversal Completes Casa Ensenada Under a Single Cantilever Roof

Chilean studio Paralelo Transversal completed Casa Ensenada in 2025: a 155-square-metre rectangular house under a large hip roof on a 1.2-acre sloped site near Lago Llanquihue, in Puerto Varas, Chile. A terrace cantilevers over a ravine on the property.

The roof, not the floor plan, drives the design. It organises the programme, circulation, structure and the house's relationship to the landscape, architect Sebastián Silva of Paralelo Transversal told Dezeen.

"In southern Chile, rain is not an exception but part of everyday life, so we wanted the roof to become more than a protective element," Silva said. "It creates a place beneath the rain, extending daily life beyond the enclosed rooms while bringing the different parts of the project together under one continuous gesture."

How does one roof do all the work?

The mechanism is in the section. "Its section thickens toward the center while remaining remarkably thin at its perimeter," Silva explained. "This allows it to be perceived as a light, continuous sheet while providing the structural depth required for long-span trusses capable of resisting both Chile's seismic conditions and the strong winds of Patagonia."

In plain terms: the roof is deep where the structure needs depth and razor-thin where the eye meets the edge. That dual geometry lets long trusses span wide rooms without columns, while the building still reads as one light sheet from outside.

The team collaborated closely with engineers and local builders to achieve the long spans and thin edge. Concealed joints kept the roof precise while reducing the visual impact of construction tolerances.

What does the plan look like?

The house sits on a slope with a stream running through the site. Residents and visitors approach along the stream before an access ramp turns toward the house; the entrance lands at the junction of public and private zones.

• The narrower side holds an open kitchen, dining and living room that bleeds onto the cantilevered terrace.
• The wider side contains three suites.
• On either side, the perimeter wall pushes under the roof canopy to form a covered bench and a planted garden.

The house faces northeast to capture winter sunlight. Floor-to-ceiling windows with thin black frames open the living spaces to the valley of Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park on one side and Calbuco Volcano on the other.

The material palette runs warm and contemporary, continuous across exterior and interior: exposed concrete slabs, large spans of glazing, tongue-and-groove timber and standing-seam metal roofing.

Did the single-idea strategy pay off?

Silva says it did. "Looking back, we believe the project fulfilled its original ambition of integrating architecture and landscape without compromising comfort, construction logic or budget," he said.

"More importantly, it reinforced our belief that a project becomes stronger when one clear architectural idea is capable of organizing structure, climate, materiality and space simultaneously."

Casa Ensenada continues a run of Chilean residential work testing one strong formal idea against tough conditions. Paralelo Transversal previously built a sail-like skylight that brought sun, shadows and air into a home on the outskirts of Santiago, and recent Chilean completions include a mass timber forest hideaway by Iragüen Viñuela Arquitectos and a seaside home with stacked terraces by Croxatto and Opazo Architects.