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Architects: Mauricio Gallegos Arquitectos
- Area: 270 m²
- Year: 2015
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Photographs:Eduardo Calvo Santisbón
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Manufacturers: Grupo MEGA, Materializadora de Proyectos., RM Vidrios y Aluminios.
Text description provided by the architects. Located in the north of the Merida city, in the Yucatan Peninsula. In an area of generous dimensions, with an approximate surface of 1000 m², this residnce was designed for a young family, where the architectural program concentrates in a volume that always tries to relate all the spaces and inhabitants with the outside.
The location of the architectural object in the place responds to the presence of a dirt road bounded by a stone wall that connects with the rest of the houses and the 3 large trees of the region: Manjack (Cordia dodecandra), Kapok (Ceiba Pentandra) and a Fishfuddle (Piscidia piscipula). These trees motivated the layout of spaces and activities. A compositional axis starts from the Manjack and in it the principal access is established, dividing the house into social and private area. Another compositional axis is a circulation-gallery that runs through and connects the residence longitudinally, always relating the interior to the exterior. The intersection of these axes results in four areas: services, public, social and private.
Along the circulation-gallery are laterally positioned the service blocks. The resulting space between these is where the living areas are located. A large cover protects the inner life of the residence and, in turn, relates to the domesticated exterior landscape, indoors in constant relationship with the sun's movement and the path of our prevailing winds from the sea. So the residence opens to the east and closes to the west, without giving up the view of the sky and the treetops.
A clear, strong and forceful geometry, without spaces and moments for exaggerated or misunderstood architectural gestures, a residence that intends to be read and understood by its inhabitants and visitors at first sight and, in the course of it, generate spaces and surprises that relate it to the experience with the landscape and be a lesson in the importance of using outer space.
Three materials were used: concrete floors with aggregate of the region, block walls with chukum finish, technique inherited from our Maya ancestors and slabs with joists and stucco finish, perceiving the white color in horizontal elements and chukum in vertical ones.
The use of a rigorous design module facilitates the planning and execution of the work, using more efficient materials and construction methods.
We believe that the virtue of the project is the respect for the ground, undestanding its conditions - sun, wind - how it is located on the ground and how it uses the site, always aware of the preexistences and their role in the context. All the spaces are oriented to an intimate and human landscape garden, in dimensions and scale, experiencing the living abroad from the interior and the importance of this concept in inhabiting the Yucatan Peninsula.
