Abstract

The research proposes to study the work of the renowned Chilean architect Jaime Sanfuentes. The study is centered in his single-family houses, located in the commune of Vitacura in Santiago of Chile. These buildings stand out for its comprehensive work of the perimeter, incorporating interior courtyards, the rationality of its configuration and the extension of roofs and pergolas, which generate and qualify the spatiality of the houses. The exploration was proposed as an academic exercise for 2nd year students at the Architecture School of Universidad de Santiago of Chile. It begins with the evaluation of the houses' models in their original latitude with an heliodon in 3 dates (equinox, winter and summer solstice). The results revealed a language of architectural operations to control the entry of sunlight. The next step was to put the models into crisis, assigning new latitudes to the projects. These correspond to two of the most extreme cities in Chile: Arica and Punta Arenas. The main objective was to provoke a variation in the way the sunlight affected the houses. The problem presented to the students was to compare both evaluations and propose possible modifications to the projects' perimeter to recover the original sunlight control.