Casa CGP

Mor., Mexico

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Vicente Suarez 123

Casa CGP

Mor., Mexico

Firm

Gemeinde - Estudio de Arquitectura

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2020

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

BUDGET

$50K - 100K

A Context, a Site, an Idea, a Program
Adjacent to hole 14 of the Paraiso golf course, in the state of Morelos, we designed a two-story house for a family with two small children. Contrary to most golf courses in Mexico, this one prescribes a setback from the lateral borders of each plot, meaning the four facades are always visible and exposed to the sun. Moreover, the region is characterized by its sub-humid climate and extremely high temperatures. Coincidentally, the neighbours report highly expensive electricity bills, since the air-conditioning has to be working all day. To mitigate this harsh condition and simultaneously, to avoid blinding the house from the spectacular views that the location offers, we allowed the climate to be the driving agent of design, interior flow, façade aesthetic, and materiality.

Passive Climate Strategy
To achieve this, we conceived the house as one big chimney. All enclosed spaces are connected to one single flow that culminates at an opening in the highest part of the house, and this way, exhausting all the hot air from inside. On the ground floor, the service rooms and social areas are arrayed on a circular hallway; while on the upper floor, the bedrooms are divided by a wide tunnel-like corridor that extends from the east façade to the west façade. As a second strategy, we set-back the windows that faced the south, as inward extrusions, forming roofed terraces; likewise, we made a slight outward extrusion of the windows facing the north, maximising indirect sunlight. Lastly, we selected a palette of regional extraction and local craftsmanship that could generate an experience of clear, open, and placid spaces.

Intimacy and Sociability
The house is composed of a series of spaces with different levels of privacy to mould to the needs of a contemporary Mexican family. The children bedrooms have a private bathroom and roofed terrace, providing them with an exterior independent space. Correspondingly, the big corridor between the bedrooms has another roofed terrace, which works as an exterior social space detached from the bustling social areas downstairs. The kitchen is connected to the circular flow of the social areas, yet it works as an independent body. Finally, the space of most sociability is the hall. With its 12 meters of open façade, it subverts to blur the division between inside and outside, and consequently, galvanize the living room and dining room with the Majaguas, Almendros, Tabachines, Amates, and Cazahuates of the course.