Sounds Of Running Water

This large residential garden is located in Lo Curro Hill, part of the Manquehue Mountain Range, in Santiago de Chile.

- Jimena Martignoni

An exclusive neighbourhood in the Chilean capital, positioned on the northern shore of the Mapocho River and surrounded by nature - an ideal location for a secret garden.

Part of the irrigation system is based on the use of an existing distribution channel coming from a stream which borders the land’s upper area. The site has a series of pools and tanks that the water passes through before draining into an irrigation ditch. Ferns and large-leafed plants conceal the water, although the noise of the falling water is still there.

This preexisting water system and the dense planting around the lot was the catalyst for the design inspiration for architects and landscape designers to create a project where house and garden become one within the natural setting. Landscape architect Juan Grimm says “The architecture is wrapped with the garden which in turn follows the direction of the descending water”.

The natural grade of the site was the basis for the overall project design. As a result, there are different indoor and outdoor living areas, which either face the descending brook or allow it flow through.