Given the extensive program that customers requested, the 2 houses are resolved intertwined and interspersed within the maximum permissible restrictions, generating a large cube that blends with its dense urban environment “kitsch-eclectico-chilango” developed in the 70’s and 80’s.

The cube floats to accommodate the access, parking and green areas, it’s separated from their adjacencies to become transparent, giving way to natural light and vertical circulation; also it’s subtracted to create a courtyard and as the exterior faces they parametrically pixel to locate the windows, balconies and skylights. The materials used on the facades cause a scene of brightness and opacity, reflections and shadows that combined with the irregularity of some canopies enhance the effect of asymmetry.

Hanging from the top of the rear facade, a staircase reminiscent of a New York alley leads to the roof terrace that houses a pair of fake containers superimposed for services, this in the midst of a huge terrace where grows a micro-forest of “liquidambares”, typical tree species of the area. This terrace reinforces the idea of roofs used as a method for reforestation of the city and gradually improves the quality of life for users to have these spaces, denied in 90% of the outbuildings that are volumetrically similar.

© Yoshihiro Koitani

• Architects

  Julio Juarez

• Location

  Mexico City, Mexico

• Category

  Houses

• Budget

  US $ 176,000

• Area

  480.0 m2

• Project Year

  2009

• Photographs

  Yoshihiro Koitani