The House in Chihuahua is part of a golf club community in the desert like northern region of Mexico. The dwelling was designed to accommodate the special climatic circumstances of the area, since the differences between day time and night time temperatures can vary by as much as twenty degrees. To balance these extreme temperature differences, we partially buried the house into the mountain slope to take advantage of the soil’s thermal mass.
Since the plot is situated in a traditional style allotment, one of the community rules stated that at least 80% of the roofs had to be inclined, so people wouldn’t build’ ‘modern’ architecture. We reinterpreted that rule and made the complete roof as one continuous surface with different inclinations. From the street side the building is only perceived as a single height volume, but upon entering this seemingly simple volume, the circulation spirals down and spaces become more complex in their shape and conformation.
The interiors are organized around a series of patios and roof openings that provide light and ventilation and allow spectacular views towards the surrounding landscape. The rooms and terraces of the dwelling are sculptured according to their specific needs and placement in the house: from deep rectangular patios to amorphous shaped terraces all the spaces find their place beneath the giant sloped roof which acts as a new artificial topography in the rough landscape.
Collaborators: Fernando Sánchez, Ross Adams, Jorge Cárdenas, Iván Villegas, Thorsten Englert / Contractor: Rio Florido Constructora S.A. de C.V. / Window Framing: Window Concept / Air conditioning: Corbik / Heating: Enrique Wide / Carpentry: Eduardo Morales / Kitchen Installation: Medel Rust / Garden Design: Rocio Amarante / Location: Chihuahua, México / Built surface: 450 m2 / Type: Residential / Date: September 2008
photo: Iwan Baantext: Productura
