Casa Estrato

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

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Other Projects by Blending Dots Arquitectos + Rogelio Castillo

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Casa Estrato

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Firm

Blending Dots Arquitectos + Rogelio Castillo

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2025

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

Conceived as a poetic and tectonic response to the surrounding desert landscape, Casa “Estrato” stands as an architectural manifesto that celebrates materiality and the dialogue between human beings and the earth. The project seeks to reveal the layers of the territory through an ascending journey that moves from compacted earth to metals, evoking an almost geological process of transformation and elevation.

On the ground floor, rammed earth walls form the firm and warm base of the project. These thick, porous walls evoke the origin of the place and connect directly with the desert soil. Their earthy texture, with ochre and reddish tones, captures shifting light and casts shadows that intensify the feeling of grounding and protection.

Inside, the language shifts and becomes stripped back: exposed concrete walls express construction honesty and give the space an atmosphere of rawness and material purity. The concrete, intentionally left without finishes, reinforces the idea of a sincere and essential architecture.

The upper floor, divided into two oxidized steel volumes, appears as an upper stratum resting on the earth. These metal boxes, closed toward the main façade, open inward through vertical glass circulation cores that act as a connective threshold between both volumes. This almost ethereal space serves as a bridge that, through its transparency, suggests a dialogue between the solidity of matter and the lightness of air.

The main entrance, marked by three large pivoting oxidized steel doors, leads to the heart of the vertical circulation. These doors, like massive metal rocks, reinforce the narrative of an architecture born from the earth and the iron veins within it. Upon entering, a surprise awaits: a glass floor panel offers a glimpse of a wine cellar in the basement, visible yet unreachable at first, inviting visitors to descend. Access to this lower level occurs through the same steel vertical circulation elements, functioning as suspended stairs and continuing the material experience.

At the rear façade, the house opens generously to the desert landscape protected by an ecological reserve. Here, vertical oxidized steel screens function as doors that can fully open to allow direct connection with the exterior or close to shield against intense sunlight, modulating light and temperature.

In summary, Casa “Estrato” is conceived as an architecture that emerges from the earth itself: from clay and rammed earth to concrete and steel, all materials transform and overlap like geological layers that tell a story of origin, permanence, and transformation. It is a house that rises from the ground and, through its materials and spaces, reminds us that architecture can be refuge, metaphor, and a bridge to nature.