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Architects: Nutum Estudio
- Area: 170 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Manolo R Solis
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Lead Architects: Pablo Jose Rivero Vallado, Sarar Ferrer Inaebnit, Josep Azuara Robles
ki'imak k óol taale'ex waye (I'm glad you're here). The house welcomes visitors with graffiti painted on the metal advertisement on a party wall when the entire plot was used as a garage. The concrete slab where only cars could live had to be lifted to become a new space for humans, plants, and fauna.
The house is built between party walls on the edge of the center of Mérida. It had to resolve its fit with its neighbors at the same time, as well as achieve a poetic language that was evocative of the cultural context in which it is located: the MAYAB.
It was desired to use the specific formal languages of the Mayan peninsula as a way to reclaim and honor the historical landscape. That is why traditional materials have been used, such as chukum for the finishes or Tzalam for the carpentry. Also, the adaptation of the great arch of the so-called Governor's palace in Uxmal has been used as a new glance at the language of Mayan architectural styles. The use of that arch pursues not only a poetic purpose but also a political one. Without wanting to erase the colonial artistic past, the aim is to reclaim forms that were long forgotten.
As the plot was very narrow, but very long, it was decided that the functional units of the house would be divided into three volumes with 4 patios between them, which would always allow cross ventilation and create the idea of continuous growth. You don't see the bottom; you don't see the limits. The common units are found in the first two volumes. The first is for the kitchen/dining room that opens onto the patio presided over by the pool, while the second volume is the one that remains inside the large arch used as a saloon.
A sofa and chairs will allow to gather together to talk, as well as a projector will allow all the space to become a cinema. We all spend more and more time entertained by audiovisuals, and we get together with friends to do a series of marathons. Far from wanting to deny reality, we try to praise it and turn it into an activity that can be socialized.
Finally, the rooms are in the most intimate part of the house, at the bottom of the plot and on the upper floor, always facing the patios that will be filled with the yellow flowers of the two jabin trees that have been planted. The vegetation is also an architectural element and serves to give them the privacy that their use requires, as well as protect the glazing from the very strong tropical sun.
