Casa MM Casa presented an unusual challenge for us. Two brothers who owned a considerable stretch of land in Tapalpa approached us with the intention of building two separate houses. As we dug into the project’s needs we realized that both of our clients had similar needs and while they didn’t mind, and in fact preferred, that the houses share a common language, each one had to convey its own singular personality. The topography of the site imposed its own set of variables that resulted in further slight alterations in the design of each house.
At the heart of the Colonia Americana a 5 story project is designed inspired by the industrial buildings of the inter-war period. The main façade has an orthodox abstract rhythm of void and filled spaces that do not follow any structural order. The voids themselves have a second protective lattice with falling crosses evocative of similar lattices often used in the area by the Escuela Tapatía.
The first child of this young family was born while this house was under construction making it the place where all the strategies the firm has come up to, took place. The project is developed in three levels, using the basement as garage, for man must be above automobiles at all times. This cellar is also the place for storerooms, equipment and service rooms, allowing the existence of these two alternate worlds for the dwellers.
Collaborators: Juan Antonio Jaime, Humberto Dueñas, Blanca Moreno, Miguel Sánchez, Marc Steven Fernández, Javier H. Aguirre, Gabriela Villarreal, Javier Gutiérrez, Erick Martínez, Jessica Magaña, Gabriel Gómez, Fernanda Palma,
A corner shaped terrain is always an unusual practice for architectonic design. This is why a different solution was required for this house, which is adjacent to another house project of the firm, allowing the opportunity to establish an architectural dialogue between them.
Building a house for a urban geographer and a great connoisseur of architecture and city meant for us the possibility to experiment with a certain way of understanding the architectural project. The plot is in a place called La Floresta – The Forest – a XX mid-century urbanization as a garden city aside Chapala Lake in west Mexico, which since a long time has been known as a retirement place for foreigners due to its great weather.
Chapala is the largest freshwater lake in Mexico; it is located a short 45-minute ride away from Guadalajara, and just 20 minutes from its international airport. Through the past few decades it has become a booming retirement destination for numerous American and Canadian citizens, and it is now home to the largest community of foreign residents in the country.
Located in a commercial area to the west of the city of Guadalajara, the project developed from the idea of creating a building with a removable metal frame capable of holding a machine with artificial waves for surfing, complemented by an architectural program consisting of bathroom dressing rooms, restaurant and administration which orbit around the main attraction.
The commission for casa Oval came from a young family with clearly defined needs and aspirations. This project presented a challenge that has become increasingly prevalent among Mexican architects: to build a house in a cloistered residential community that often imposes arbitrary, traditionalist aesthetic restrictions on all construction. Privacy and space efficiency were the two driving concerns for the project. The house envelope needed to afford sufficient visual privacy from the street outside, while also providing enough porosity to allow generous amounts of natural light into the house.
Casa DTF was built within the confines of a private residential community and raised similar privacy issues. In the case of Casa DTF the house program was resolved in three levels. The program distribution allows for a clear separation of private and public functions. The basement houses all service areas and the garage; the ground floor, which rises half a story above the street level, includes all public areas such as kitchen, dining and living spaces as well as a studio. The second level includes four bedrooms.
Where there was once decomposed organic matter, now there is art, sports and leisure. It is the conversion of a sewage treatment plant into a multidisciplinary center.
After being built nearly two decades ago in Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, this place never really worked and saw its contents come into a rapid estate of decomposition. Years later, local authorities called for new meanings for the place, making it a great challenge.
Awards: Honourable Mention at the VII Biennal of Jalisco Architecture 2013
Cliente: Tlajomulco de Zuñiga City Government, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, Alberto Uribe Camacho, Ismael del Toro Castro
Project: 2011
Completion: 2013
Author: Agraz Arquitectos S.C., Ricardo Agraz
Collaborators: Erick Martínez, Miguel Sánchez, Juan Antonio Jaime, Brenda Barron, Blanca Moreno, Gabriela Villarreal, Javier Gutiérrez, Gabriel Gómez, Humberto Dueñas, Marc Fernández, Fernanda Palma, Israel Picos, Javier H. Aguirre, Leticia Macias.
Construction: Tlajomulco Public Works Office, Hugo Luna Vázquez – Strategic Project Coordinator, David Miguel Zamora Bueno – Minister of Public Works , Public bidding, Gama Constructores y Asociados S.A. de C.V. – Francisco Javier Peregrina Barajas.
Art Direction: Francisco Morales Dufour, Adrián Guerrero
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