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Architects: IUA Ignacio Urquiza Arquitectos
- Area: 700 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Estudio Urquiza, Ignacio Urquiza
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Lead Architects: Ignacio Urquiza Seoane
Text description provided by the architects. The El Torón Reserve is located on the coast of Oaxaca, it is a 30-hectare extension voluntarily dedicated to conservation. The care of this territory, its flora, and fauna, as well as the understanding of how to intervene in it, is what allows us to call it a reserve and lays the foundation for everything we project within it. This house, as its name suggests, is the second within the complex. Designed in collaboration with apda - Ana Paula de Alba for the interiors and furniture, the proposal seeks to establish a direct relationship and continuous contact between the user and the environment. The house is composed of four independent pavilions, their arrangement responds to the topography of the site and its existing vegetation. The first module houses the common areas and the other three house the bedrooms; two main ones in front of the bay and one inside the jungle.
The main volume - open on 3 of its sides without doors or windows - proposes inhabiting the space in a continuous open but covered area; a single-shaded terrace. It is a linear succession of spaces that begins with a terrace for the kitchen, which is used in the mornings and where a dim light shines, and in the afternoons or evenings for cooking next to an outdoor grill. This is followed by a dining room, a living room, a terrace, and a swimming pool that flow together seamlessly under a single roof made of wood and clay. The roofs of the 4 volumes have a single slope that follows the natural fall of the land and the treetops, seeking to be discreet within the context while also protecting the interior from the west sun. This gesture creates a sense of privacy with the exterior, generating a welcoming space with cool heights inside.
Each of these modules has 3 open and operable sides, with the fourth side closed by a stone wall that acts as a containment for the few cuts and alterations made to the land in order to place the house. The short front of each volume faces the horizon of the large bay of the reserve, while the long faces of each pavilion merge the view with the surroundings, making the existing vegetation and the rugged topography of the hills a direct extension of the house. The center of the house is not the architecture, but the voids generated by the arrangement of the 4 pavilions that make up the project, erasing the boundaries of the property. Both the architecture and the interiors were worked hand in hand from the beginning of the project, with the intention of respecting - as the first element of visual interest and interaction - the context in which the house is located. The material palette focused on concrete, tropical wood, local stone, local teak, clay, palm weavings, linens, and cotton looms adapted to complement the upholstery, local materials that, together with the interior and furniture design by apda, allow the house to be lived in a relaxed manner at all times. Each piece was designed or selected with a very particular sense.
A fundamental criterion for specifying the elements that make up the proposal - both in architecture and interior design - was that the majority of them must be of local character, coming from national labor and design, and with minimal material intervention, taking the material in its natural state and adapting it with the least treatment possible to maintain its original properties.
To achieve this, the vast majority of the furniture designs were developed by apda to maintain a purely visual and material language, suitable for the particular conditions of exposure to the environment and use of the house, and at the same time give an authentic character to each piece that makes up the project. The use of local materials, cross ventilation, light-colored floors such as raw travertine in light beige, non-slippery, which provides a pleasant temperature for walking barefoot and allows the animals of the area to be seen due to its color, are just some examples of the elements of vernacular architecture incorporated into the design.
The greatest challenge of this project was to understand its location, respect the existing vegetation, and accompany the site's topography to use it in favor of the dwelling. For the construction of the house, the volumes were first traced on-site, the necessary and minimal cuts were studied to position the volumes in response to a double frontal and lateral slope, and the vegetation was removed and then relocated to complement the voids generated by the placement of the 4 pavilions; 80% of the vegetation that occupied the footprint of the pavilions was transplanted, this vegetation is what provides privacy between each of the modules.
After almost three years of slow and careful construction, we can enjoy architecture within a mature context of irreplaceable vegetation. No heavy machinery was used for the construction of this house. All materials were transported about a kilometer with an ATV and a trailer built on-site, a decision that allowed the vegetation surrounding the project and the paths designed to explore the reserve on foot, by bike, or in electric carts to remain undisturbed. The result is a project that understands life within a harsh environment and puts you in direct contact with it while being welcoming and fresh; the air and vegetation are the two elements that allow you to experience the outdoors in a direct way and be in constant contact with the immediate surroundings.
