A polygonal and very irregular lot, added to the restrictions of the housing development and a slope without a flat section, gave us the opportunity to catalyze the commercial disadvantages of the land and design a unique house. A home for a family with small children for which we designed the setting of the many parallel experiences of the happy growth of its inhabitants.
With knowing more about the family in mind we interviewed all the members and received a large amount of ideas, from the most simple and innocent, to the most complex and utopic.
Collaborators: Arq. Francisco Cruz, Arq. Beatriz Bello, Arq. Carlos Carreño, Arq. De Int. Karime Arellano, Arq. De Int. Marijose Mejía. Arq. De Int. Ana Loeza
Interior Design and Lighting Design: BCA Taller de Diseño
Envisioned for a growing family, the house proposes a form of dwelling organized around a continuous dialogue with the landscape in which it is located. The dark exterior grants it a solid stature, while simultaneously evoking the possibility of a home carved in the interior of a rock formation. Certain formal gestures complement this suggestion, like the sectioning of the house’s volumes that hints at the form of a crack, or the windows that appear sporadically, yet with a balanced rhythm, in different parts of the wall. Furthermore, the tour inside proposes a game of changing lights and shadows, with paths that open and close, tighten and widen, and flow into open spaces that secure both fresh air and privacy.
The main challenge for this 3 apartment’s project was a combination of an ambitious architectural program and a plot with limited dimensions. The 106 sq m of land were maximized to have all the necessary services for the building inhabitants.
Concrete frame was chosen as construction system to avoid the use of columns, creating more spacious areas. Mobile wooden panels were used for the interiors of each apartment to open or close both integrating and isolating the spaces creating suitable environments for the different activities.
The approach of the house was oriented to provoke a contemporary design with a typical gesture of the place, retrieving handmade work and the identity of the city of Xalapa. The special requirement of the client was that the house had to be very illuminated with natural light and to use local materials.
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