At Estancia Morro Chico, Patagonia, Argentina, a group of white, angular buildings stand in the vastness of the landscape. Yet more than appearing to protrude or interfere with the land, the structures seem to humbly attempt to cope with it, grouping together for safety and company just like the people and sheep to whom they owe their existence.

At the end of the 19th century, Scottish settlers from the Falkland Islands arrived through the Chilean City of Punta Arenas to this part of the Argentinian Patagonia at the southern Chilean border.

Between 1888 and 1890, the vast 2000-kilometre migration of people on horseback and more than 5,000 sheep, known as ?el gran arreo,? brought the colonists from Rio Negro province to the area to settle the land the government had granted them.
Estancia Morro Chico was established by the Gallie family as a result of this two-year great drive. Now, more than a century later, the fifth generation decendants of the same family decided to completely upgrade  all of the operations and buildings on the site.

The aim was to preserve the natural heritage of the ranch, establish improved and upgraded production of meat and wool, modernize the living conditions of the resident workforce and to do this all in a sustainable manner. 

Lausanne, Switzerland-based Richter Dahl Rocha & Associés Architects https://www.richterdahlrocha.comwas selected to draw the master plan and to accomplish the transformation project that lasted from ...