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Architects: LBR&A
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Frank Lynen, Jaime Navarro
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Lead Architect: Benjamín Romano
Text description provided by the architects. Bosques de las Lomas in Mexico City was conceived as a Residential district within a forested area. The clumsy architectural development has deforested the hills, transforming the forest into rooftops, streets, and concrete platforms with gardened areas, draining their rainwater into the municipal sewer system, reducing the natural water infiltration into the soil, destroying the original flora and fauna of the site. The property adjoins a federal reserve land, deforested due to the architectural development and the mismanagement of the authorities.
When we were invited to visit the BCH73 site, we found a pre-existing volcanic stone structure, conceived as a containment stone wall that leveled the upper part of the property, leaving half of the site 30 meters below the road, the neighbors, and their boundaries. The presence of the federal reserve to the east, the pre-existence of the Retaining wall, the Regulations compliance, as well as the Program itself, helped us to take the Architectural Party decision, conceptualizing it as a diaphanous cantilever block, surrounded by interesting current and future visuals (when the implemented ecological actions mature), with a clear division of the server and served space.
Our traditional holistic way of working led us to the understanding of a cantilevered architectural-structural piece, with protected and ventilated facades, with Energy conservation and generation actions, (reaching the Net-Zero factor), with water and ecological awareness towards the environment, obtaining a calm and diaphanous interior space (programmatic requirements of the project), surrounded by light, natural air, with open and protected visuals, with a great quality of life inside.
The Net-Zero factor was achieved by the combined use of the Energy Foundation Piles supported by a Heat pump (solar powered), proper Orientation, Ventilation, and Protection towards the environment, as well as the adequate Materiality of the Construction. In terms of water actions, a biodigester system was installed that processes wastewater to irrigate the federal area, as well as the infiltration of the rainwater into the subsoil to improve the conditions of the flora and fauna in the mistreated forest area.
As part of the reforestation, it was decided to plant endemic species such as the Tepozán, the Moctezuma Pine (Ocote), and Avocado trees (specific for the fauna), in addition to other arboreal individuals that had been born naturally on the preexisting platform of the abandoned property. With great excitement, we learned that a Cacomixtle (endangered Mexican species) was found a few days ago, wandering through the federal zone. For the construction process, the prefabrication of the structure was implemented, which was launched 20 meters above the ravine without affecting the already battered forest area.
For whom: The house was conceived as a home for a retired professional couple. The rehabilitation of the ravine as public and landscaped space responds to the physical and social environment. Why: The owners reached their retirement age and decided to build a functional and quiet house that would meet their needs for their older age.
