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Architects: Iván Ramírez, Taller de Arquitectura X / Alberto Kalach
- Area: 8010 m²
- Year: 2015
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Photographs:Jaime Navarro
Text by Mónica Arellano.
Barranca Valle, is a complex built in 2015 located in Valle de Bravo, a city by the Lake Avándaro, on the outskirts of Mexico City. The project consists of six standard houses that are located in a built area of a total of 8010m2. The area is built in a staggered manner on a slope, giving the houses an immersive experience with the landscape.
The houses are developed in three levels: the ground floor of 169m2 with the bedrooms and the service room, the upper floor of 158m2 of which 28m2 were used for the access terrace, leaving the rest of the space to the dining room and kitchen. The top floor has 26m2 of built area and 62m2 of terrace. All these floors are accessed through the north facade and face south, habited by local plant species of the region, covering two-thirds of the lot. In this way, the contemplation of the natural terrain is prioritized over the construction on it.
The vertical accesses are made using concrete stairs, embedded in the red brick walls that embrace the interiors and generate a peculiar texture and rhythm due to their arrangement that seems to be a variant of typical English brickwork.
The palette of materials leans towards using warm colours and textures, playing with the use of wood both indoors and in window frames, in the wooden ceiling beams, doors, and fixtures such as cabinets. The play of volumes of the building in its entirety generates courtyards, garden planters and terraces that create different experiences, climates and visuals.