Miel Pavilion in Santa Lucía Alto

About

The Miel Pavilion is located in the village of Santa Lucía Alto, in the Yungay region of Chile, on a 130-hectare property in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. A work of the firm of Mauricio Pezo and Sofía von Ellrichshausen, the building is part of a series of interventions the architects have undertaken in this landscape of coihue trees. The first was the Luna house-studio, the architects' residence and workshop, also conceived as a workspace and meeting place, with studios, galleries, and lodgings for artists. With a surface area of 36 square meters, the pavilion was thought up as an ancillary facility for Von Ellrichshausen's beekeeping activities. Although its program is modest – storing protective suits and work tools –the structure takes on an almost ceremonial presence, like a temple. Executed with cast-in-place concrete in successive 60-centimeter layers, the volume is perceived as a compact, imposing handcrafted block. Its composition is asymmetrical: one side rises as if to complete an imaginary cube, while the opposite side has no elevation at all. The main facade is like an abstract altarpiece. Two buttresses hold up a seemingly useless beam, reinforcing the symbolic character of the entrance. Above the lintel, the engraving of the phrase ‘Neither more nor less’ underscores the pursuit of sobriety and moderation.