Teresa Moller Portfolio

Chile Casa Blanca I

Location: Casablanca, Chile

Year: 2006

Area: 26 ha

Architects: Elton + Leniz Arquitectos

Located about sixty kilometers to the west of Santiago, this valley, part of the coastal Andes, is ones of the most important wine growing regions in Chile. Eighty-five percent of the lot is allocated for planting sauvignon blanc grapes and the rest is reserved for merlot and pinot noir grapes, where the house, as well the olive and lavender plantations, are located, creating an environment not only productive, but to provide a sensory experience of the space.

Conditioned by the preexistence mayten trees (Maytenus boaria), small gardens are demarcated a space for rest and to observe the rows of vines, where sets of tables and benches made from discarded wood from the site are located. In order to generate an extensive view of the white grape plantation immediately upon entering the site, the entrance path crosses through the center of the vines, which depending of the time of the year, will be either golden and ochre or a resplendent green. In addition, on the borders of the house, some plant species such as rose, sage, and agapanthus are planted. And a pond that is clearly geometric in profile, located at the center of the lot, serves as a local water reserve.

Chile Casa Blanca II

Locación: Casablanca, Chile

Año: 2007

Área: 46 ha

Arquitectos: Elton + Leniz arquitectos

The site always been used for agriculture. When Tere arrived on site the flat valley floor was scarred with access roads and farm paths that seemed messy. For her the rectangular farming fields seemed to cut and jar with the landscape. She immediately saw the need to create a homogeneous and clean landscape. With this in mind she began to clean and remove the hard lines in the cultivated valley. It soon became apparent that the land had previously been cultivated in a large circular form, a beautiful trace of the agricultural history of the site. This beautiful discovery determined Tere´s decision to recreate a circular crop field.

The house sits high upon a hill and from here Tere linked the valley floor and house with a spectacular stone staircase. Down this trickles water that flows down the steps and into rills that flow through a casuarinas forest in the valley and into a circular lake. This stand of trees was existing and Tere spent time cleaning the trees in order to see how to develop the design. Here she designed the ´garden´ in the design with simple long lawns and lines of flowers.

This is a large design that finds beauty in simple gestures. As well as the lake, crop fields and gardens Tere´s design saw the planting of large vineyards, olives for oil production, and the production of lavender also for oil.

Up: lagoon view Right: general plan

Chile

Hotel Tierra Atacama

Location: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Year: 2008

Area: 5, 5 ha

Arquitectos: Matías González y Rodrigo Searle

Hotel Tierra Atacama is a small hotel located in San Pedro, an oasis town in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile. The landscape project embraces the beauty in what happens by bringing water to land. The whole design approaches this desert site in a functional and human way, transforming this part of the driest desert in the world into a small oasis miraculously producing food and crops. The project seeks to find beauty in agricultural production in the desert, drawing inspiration from the traditional farming methods from San Pedro.

As well as the agricultural aspect of the project an important feature is a deck path that takes one through the site, through stands of the native chañar tree, and the shrub antriplex and into the cultivated land planted with sunflowers and corn. At the end of this beautiful walk stands a large and majestic Algarrobo, under which Tere designed simple wooden decks that serve as rest spots. Places to sit and enjoy the desert before wandering back to the hotel.

Parque Periurbano, Calama

Location: Calama, Chile

Year: 2016

Area: 28 ha

Parque Periurbano, is a public park located on the limits between the city of Calama and the Atacama Desert. This 28 hectares of green land is dedicated for the recreation of the local inhabitants, improving their everyday life quality as well as the environment.

The main objective of the project is to create an efficient park that adapts entirely to the sites arid conditions and lack of water. This was achieved through a design set as a grid that manages the little water present on site and through the planting of native species. The design enables people to experience the arid landscape of Northern Chile.

Chile Punta Pite

Location: Punta Pite, Zapallar, Chile

Year: 2005

Área: 11 ha

Punta pite is a private condimium between Zapallar and Papudo, two beach towns on the Chilean coast that are located about 150km north of Santiago. The site, as indicated by its name, is a headland that juts out into the sea. The brief was to create a foot path along the coastline here.

Teresa´s work here seeks to create an experience that embraces the character of the site; she encourages us to walk through the coastal landscape. Her actions as a designer and artist are lead directly from the landscape. As a result her project here in Punta Pite is incredibly humble yet powerful.

Where the natural landscape and cliffs allow one to walk easily Tere left them totally untouched, in other cases where steep cliffs made walking difficult Tere intervenes by building a path or staircase. These architectural aspects are built from hand cut granite, the same material as the cliffs themselves.

It is important to note that in no direction is it marked where to go, the idea is to invite people to walk and discover their own path.

Chile Huentelauquen House

Location: Huentelauquen, Chile

Year: 2005

Area: 0,5 ha

Architect: FG Arquitectos

The Huentelauquen Project is located in a valley 400km north of Santiago.

A garden for a secluded house perched on a cliff. The architecture itself is built on the slopes of the cliff located over a small river mouth, a wide beach and the Pacific Ocean.

The nature of the house means that it is below the top of the rock face; therefore, the roof of the house coincides with the upper level of the cliffs. Soil was brought in and the roof was planted with local species so that the landscape continues towards the roof of the house. In this way, the construction scar was masked and the original cliff-top landscape was preserved.

Wooden paths with railway sleepers are laid out on the rock, allowing easy walking to the edge of this spectacular headland. A square seat interrupts the path line and is placed around a square cut in the rock that serves as a fire pit. This feature brings people together around the heat of the fire and towards the misty seascape.

The railroad ties were carefully laid out with subtle gaps between each sleeper that lend the composition lightness, as if the wooden path was floating on rock. Similarly, to soften and lighten the headland, some Calendrinsa and other succulents were planted in a few hollows in the rock.

The path that leads to the house is marked by a simple composition of seven stones, the sculptural aspect of these acts as a special landmark in the peaceful landscape and they refer to the traditional rock marks within landscapes such as menhirs, cairns, etc. These seven stones subtly mark the point of arrival; they are the poetic welcome to Huentelauquen.

Chile Kawelluco

Location: Kawelluco, Pucón, Chile

Year: 2006

Area: 1 ha

Architect: Matías González

Kawelluco is in the South of Chile, set deep in the lush forests near Pucon. This is Teresa’s laboratory where she plays with simple found materials and works very closely with the relationship between land uses and the possibility of aesthetic that is born from necessity.

All her interventions open up the possibilities for seeing and appreciating the wild forests, be it from simple wooden tables, to the roof deck of the simple house which brings one up to the forest Canopy.

Chile Lo Curro

Location: Lo Curro, Santiago, Chile

Year: 1991

Area: 2 ha

Architect: Izquierdo Lehmann

This project consists of a park-like design that is shared between four houses in the hillside barrio ´Lo Curro´ in Santiago, Chile. Located on the north bank of the Mapocho River, this project is one of the first of Tere´s gardens, constructed and planted thirty years ago.

The site is located on a steep slope and includes a water channel that flows through the upper levels of the hill. This is part of an irrigation system that carries water from the barrio of La Dehesa and around the hills to Lo Curro following a fairly high contour line. When Tere visited the site for the first time, she found a series of pools and ditches filled with water that had leaked from the irrigation channel. This water loss motivated Tere to define these existing water pools and channels. From this starting point the design developed into a formal landscape based on the functional and cyclical movement of water, from pool to channel, to pool.

At the base of the hill the water is received in a still circular pool. This area in the design is a total sanctuary; surrounded by lush forest planting it is calming and beautiful. Being semi-hidden within the site it is magical, inviting one to get lost amongst the trees and the sound of falling water. This area is the focal point in the design and is framed with flowering and shrub shade species, such as X Soulangeana Magnolias, camellias and azaleas. These are all planted in swathes under groves of Japanese maples (Acer Palmatum), a large Erythrina tree and a large existing Eucalyptus.

Italy Venice Biennale

Location: Venice, Italy

Year: 2016

Following the invitation to participate in la Biennale of Venice 2016, our proposal aims in providing a significant value to the existing outdoor space of “Arsenale” in Venice.

The fundament is to bring the space for the visitors of the biennale to be used and aware of the landscape. The outer space will be consolidated through the installation of pieces of Chilean travertine marble, coming directly from Atacama desert, Northern Chile as recycled material of the quarry. These pieces will be placed in different areas of the outdoor exhibition, such as along the water front, a place of passage, today practically abandoned.

The project arises from simple interventions giving users moments for observation and contemplation of the landscape and architecture's beauty around them. The proposal titled “Catch the landscape” hopes to provide a new experience fronting the landscape , a different way of seeing and understanding the outer space.

China Novartis

Location: Shanghai Pudong, China

Year: 2016

Area: complete infrastructure 8,3 ha

Architect: Zhang Ke, KAO

NovartisShanghai Campus, C4 courtyard, China

The design for the C4 courtyard remains light and simple to fit with the impressive architectural building designed by Elemental. Our idea was to plant the garden using Metasequoias glyptostroboides as a way to conserve the history of China's native plants. This tree is a survivor; it has been around for 100 million years and probably grazed by dinosaurs. Therefore, the garden is an homage for such an ancient tree and an invitation to experience, learn and be aware of the captivating story that is hidden behind these ‘living fossils’.

NovartisShanghai Campus, C10 courtyard, China

Bee hives is one of the most efficient and functional natural structure that nature offers us. This natural geometry was an inspiration for the design of the architecture, shaped using the similar hexagonal structure of honey combs. Following this concept, 5 cellular courtyards were designed amongst the buildings, creating pockets of wildness between the structural architecture. The gardens were designed as a whole with the buildings, establishing a symbiosis between architecture and garden. The gardens becomes intimate spaces, that all have different character and densities depending on the planted vegetation.

Germany IGA Berlin

“Permanent International Garden Exhibition”

Location: Berlin, Germany

Year: 2017

Nothofagus trees were planted in a natural forest design.

The selected species, Nothofagus Antarctica, is an extremely ancient tree native from southern Chile. Its natural pattern distribution across the southern Pacific Ocean, suggests that the distribution of the Nothofagus dates back to the time when Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand and South America were connected in a mass of common land and formed a single continent.

At one time, this species was believed unable to reproduce today, but we see that they continue to grow and in extreme conditions such as the mountains of Patagonia. Therefore, both its beauty and its strength, the fact that it continues growing and being robust until the present time, is very significant for us.

The simplicity of the design allows visitors to feel at peace when they enter the enclosed garden. “Being under the trees” allows people to move spontaneously, to relax, to contemplate nature. The objective of the project was to recreate the characteristics of a Chilean forest, using simple materials, such as travertine marble extracted from Northern Chile, and trees native to southern Chile, both emblems of the beauty of the Chilean landscape.

Nothogafus from Southern Chile

Travertine marble from Northern Chile

Chile

France

Corsica House

Development project

Location: Corsica, France

Year: 2019

Area: 2,5 ha

This project consists of a landscape design for a house on the coast of the island of Corsica, defining the circulations and living areas. It proposes working on the walls and paths with local stone, a leading staircase to access the house and native French vegetation. It is currently under construction.

Chile Los Olivos Development project

Location: Cachagua, V región, Chile

Year: Proyect in construction

Area: 1,7 há.

Architec: FG Arquitectos

The landscape project encompasses the roads, edges and the common areas of a housing project located in Cachagua, Chile.

The proposal is to unify the landscape from the existing vegetation and mainly native flora, combined with hundreds of Olive trees, thus giving the name of the project "Los Olivos".

The paths are built of wooden decks that are perched on the ground so as not to invade the existing flora and fauna that allows expanding through it. A sinuous way is chosen to generate a more natural and spontaneous walk.

Chile

MAPA - Arauco Cellulose Development project

Location: Arauco, Chile

Year: 2021

Area: 180 ha

The landsce design proposal for the Arauco Cellulose, MAPA Line 3 Project, is located in the Arauco commune in the Bío Bío Region. Originally contemplates an area of approximately 110 ha, corresponding to the construction-free zones within the new factory expansion project. Along with this, around 73 additional hectares were added to the design proposal, in order to generate a connection and continuity between the old project (Line 2) and the one requested. Therefore, the landscaping proposal includes around 180 hectares of which 5 main areas to work were defined: Access; Queule protection, study and propagation zone; Industrial facade or truck area; Park; Indoor industry.

The landscaping proposal contemplates a common, enveloping and respectful image with its environment, which allows to enhance the sectors of greater natural value, as well as to improve those free construction spaces that will be left in deterioration as a result of construction work.

To give a common image throughout the factory, new areas of landscaping to be developed, together with the idea of a common structure, which comes from the projection of the orthogonal lines that emerge from the transit roads of both the new and old factory. Thus, a plot is generated that allows both projects to be unified, as well as the differentiation of places within it.

This plot is configured as “voids” within the landscape proposal, which corresponds to sectors with the absence of shrub or tree vegetation, paths or corridors, which allow the views to be opened and to communicate between the different areas of the project.

Qatar

Location: Qatar

Year: 2018

The landscape proposal seeks to bring to front the surrounding context, such as its geographical condition, nature, architecture, history, culture, establishing interventions that enhance the places and allow the user to be aware of the existence. The project aims in bringing value to the place, enhancing the relation between the existing museums, parks, neighborhoods and waterfront, taking in account the climatical condition, through sustainable solutions that allow man to relate with nature whilst inhabiting it. In relation to the interior space, the proposal focuses in transforming the area into a large greenhouse. A space for nature to express and people to experience it fully. Qatar has a typical arid, subtropical desert climate with long, hot and humid summers and relative mild winters with limited rainfall. Therefore this interior park through strategical dense planting, allows for different activities to take place and man to inhabit despite the climatical condions. Through a simple intervention, the project offers the inhabitants the possibility of observation and contemplation of the beauty of the landscape and its architecture, that are relevant parts of the context.