The Poli House is a modern cubical residence located on the Coliumo peninsula in Chile - designed by architects Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen.
The structure is located on the Coliumo peninsula, a countryside inhabited by farmers, fishermen, and some tourists who occasionally visit. The Poli House is compact yet isolated and the architects wanted to portray two ideas: the sensation of a natural podium surrounded by the vastness and the dizzying and wide-open space produced by the sight of the sea washing against the rocks at the foot of the cliffs.
It's the official name in Spanish, CASAPOLI is a private non-profit cultural institution. “Poli”, in its Greek etymology, doesn’t only refer to the political role of public work but also points to an essential category of plurality and multiplicity.
This open, diverse, and expandable meaning, such as the contemporary city, is one of the principles that guide the varied functions of the house; it is simultaneously a place for retreat and individual introspection in an extreme natural landscape and a place for gatherings, exhibitions, and workshops for research and collective production of cultural projects. The architects Pezo and von Ellrichshausen follow a minimalist approach and claim they do not “design.” It’s a word they seem to dislike because it suggests over-refinement; a distance from being truly ‘personal’.
