Gabriel Granda and his wife, Pamela, were in search of a different life. The engineer and psychologist lived in Santiago, Chile, and they felt exhausted from the give-and-take of sorting through work while carving out time for their private lives.

“We both had highly demanding and time-consuming jobs,” Gabriel says. “When our first child was born, we started looking for a place where we could raise a family in contact with nature.”

In 2014, the couple moved to Puerto Varas, which is set within the lush forests of Chile’s Lakes Region, and began a new chapter at a slower pace. Four years later, with two kids in tow, Gabriel and Pamela were standing on the banks of the nearby Maullín River when they realized something simple yet significant: They wanted other people to experience the lives they felt privileged enough to have.

“The Maullín River is a protected area and a natural sanctuary, home to several bird species,” Gabriel says. “We fell in love with its purity, silence, and surroundings.”

Alongside their business partner, Angelo Novoa, the couple started planning four hideaways on the banks of the river that they named the Foráneo Cabins. Three cabins would be about 1,000 square feet and big enough to host four travelers each, while one cabin would be about 1,600 square feet and large enough to fit seven.

“We dreamed of being able to offer visitors a luxurious experience in an environment of respect for nature and wildlife,” he says. “Foráneo means foreigner in Spanish. We believe we are foreigners in a unique land—visitors to an environment that welcomes us, and invites us to protect it and live in harmony with it.”

They hired Andrea Von Chrismar to oversee construction, and the four of them set forth creating a hub where tourism and sustainability could coexist. “We aimed to make the riverbank visible, and to promote its role as a biological corridor for the region,” Chrismar says. “Proceeding with a tourism project in this place meant taking on a great responsibility, and carefully considering what can and cannot be done.”

They created an interdisciplinary team that studied the best ways to build a project from scratch that would be environmentally conscious and still alluring to visitors. It all started with the exact locations of each cabin. “The cabins were built in such a way that no tree was cut down to make room for them,” Gabriel says. They modeled the structures from historic buildings in Puerto Varas, using native materials from the forest—most notably, reclaimed wood to outfit the shape and cladding of the structures, and recycled tile for the roofs.

“We acquired this antique shed built by German settlers from Puerto Varas that dates to 1945,” Gabriel says. “There was wood from Ulmo, Tepa, Laurel, and Mañío inside it. Aside from the buildings themselves, we also used the wood to make furniture and other decorative elements.”

As they were building the cabins from 2019 to 2020, the couple and their team were also interested in preserving spaces for guests to explore upon arrival. “We began reforesting 1,000 native trees in 2019, and 4,000 native species in 2021,” Gabriel says. “We currently have a nursery to grow our own native bushes, too.”

They set up recycling and compost bins for their guests to use, and partnered with local companies to process collected materials (the compost is used on-site). There’s an orchard and greenhouse where Gabriel and Pamela grow different vegetables, herbs, and flowers each season (travelers are encouraged to come learn and taste), and a cohort of community members offering different goods and services. “In this way, we promote local commerce and minimize the cabins’ carbon footprint,” Gabriel adds.

In the midst of all this, Gabriel and Pamela ensure that guests are comfortable during their stay. The cabins are punctuated by wide windows that provide clear views of the river and trees, which can also be seen from balconies, and radiant slab heating keeps the spaces warm throughout the year. Full kitchens and dining rooms accompany bedrooms awash in natural light, and sizable bathrooms are clad in marble. As much as guests may be “roughing it” in theory, it feels far from that in practice.

“Wood lends a welcoming quality to the cabins, and the large glass panels leave guests with the feeling of being suspended over the river or the forest,” Chrismar says. “It’s an airy and timeless design, all at the service of the environment.”

Related Reading:

Soak Up the Surf at These Remote Timber Cabins on the Chilean Coast

A Black Roof and Central Courtyard Make This Cabin Vanish Into the Woods

A Remote Chilean Cabin Appears to Float Above the Forest Floor

A Cabin Rises Amidst Ancient Trees in the Andes Mountains

Project Details:

Architect of Record: Andrea Von Chrismar / @avonarquitectos

Collaborating Architects: Dulce Sánchez, Margarete Hitschfeld, Felipe Soto and Emilia Venegas

Builder: Constructora Lingue, Jaime Seco / @constructoralingue

Stuctural Engineer: Jorge Dominguez and Erna Carrizo

Landscape Design: Alejandra Díaz

Interior Design: Leyla Musleh

Agricultural Consultancy: Agrícola La Minga and Cristián Toro/ @agricolala

Waste Recycling: Taller Verde

Appears In

A Santiago Couple Build Four Cabins—and a New Life—in Chile’s Lakes District