Harsh winter conditions, isolation and the jagged landscape of Chilean mountains require a more fitting title for houses, namely 'refuges'. The Andes, a continuous north-south mountain range, is an omnipresent boundary to various Chilean cities, but historically construction on the mountains themselves is limited, if any exists at all. If a sustainable design solution for the mountain climate can be found, it would provide an energy-efficient building possibility to alleviate the growing pressure of urban growth. This book analyses the process of designing such an energy efficient building.