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2018 MCHAP.emerge

Entrepinos

Hector Barroso

Valle de Bravo, Mexico

May 2017

PRIMARY AUTHOR

Héctor Barroso Riba / Taller Hector Barroso

CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR

Vianney Watine / Taller Héctor Barroso (Designer) Thalia Bolio / Taller Héctor Barroso (Designer) Diego Ramírez / Taller Hector Barroso (Designer) Ricardo Camacho / DECSA (Structural Project) Tomas Rodriguez / PROICO (Engineering Project) Hugo Sánchez / Entorno Taller de Pasiaje (Landscape) Tonatiuh Martínez / Entorno Taller de Paisaje (Landscape)

CLIENT

Alejandro De Haro

PHOTOGRAPHER

Rory Gardiner

OBJECTIVE

The 3,660 square-feet residences of this housing development called “Entrepinos” (“Between Pine trees”) are identical in form and layout. It includes five weekend houses positioned straight to the south and staggered not to feel the repetition. Each house consists of six monolithic volumes position in such way that they generate a void, an interior “patio”. This central courtyard grants owner views, silence and intimacy. On the north, the volumes are solid and closed with the entrance to access each house. To the south, they open up bringing natural light and drawing in private garden and forest views. This gesture helps to keep the interior spaces warm with natural light penetrating inside all day long. The living area, dining area and one of the bedrooms, all of which occupy the ground floor of the two-story house, extend to meet the property´s outdoor terraces, patios and the garden. On the upper level, there are three bedrooms that look to the sea of pines.

CONTEXT

In a vast forest area from Valle de Bravo, in Mexico, five houses are dispersed along the ground adapting to the topography of the site in harmony with the nature, surrounded by pine trees that echo the sound of the wind. The site, with a rectangular form and limit, has a ten meters unevenness topography from the lowest part starting from the access path and the first house, to the highest part on the opposite site. As any dense forest area, humidity plays an important role in the materiality decisions. The place microclimate gives to the project clues and directions of the best way to approach this condition.

PERFORMANCE

“In-situ” materiality; the materials are from the region. Constructed from soil extracted from the site, combined with wood and brick, the five buildings have a warm, earthy, terracotta color. The architecture intimately tied to place through the choice of material. Thereby, these monolithic dwellings emerge from the place and embody nature and the built environment.

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