Throughout 12 years of professional practice we have dedicated ourselves mainly to the development of single-family homes within private subdivisions in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara. These gated communities have proliferated due to the constant growth of crime in Mexico. Which causes people to decide to live protected by walls that give them a sense of security.
Design: Cotaparedes Arquitectos
Photography: César Béjar
Location: Guadalajara metropolitan area, Jalisco.
Completion: 2021
Gross built area: 311m2
Project Type: Residential
We are aware that these neighborhoods mean a denial of the city since they are closed to it but at the same time we understand that Architecture must be a reflection of its time (as Mies said 100 years ago) and today in Mexico they are inevitable.
The typology of these homes is limited by a series of conditions inherent to the development: sidewalk dimensions or the absence of it (as in this case) a 35m2 garage area, without being a requirement that they be covered, front and rear restriction of 3m, height of 9m, and a restriction on the second level of 2m later, unlimited to 50 m2 of total construction on that level.
The project takes its name due to the strategy of adapting to the nature of the topography and the solar orientation of the property. In this type of project where the possibilities are limited, we respond to the needs of the clients. Generally, they ask us for a ground floor bedroom with a full bathroom that we decided to give double duty, so that it serves both for the use of the bedroom and for the guests. For us it is essential that this bedroom has a controlled relationship to the outside, so we continually seek to generate a patio that provides good lighting and ventilation and at the same time privacy. We believe that privacy is not a luxury but a necessity of human beings.
Something that has allowed the project to evolve in the way of living are small but significant details; Separating the laundry room from the kitchen as was done in the traditional way allows us to maximize the breadth of the social areas. Due to this we opted to take the laundry room to the second level linked to a multipurpose space that the clients originally requested in a basement, but analyzing the negative slope of the land that ends with the perimeter wall of the subdivision which we could not modify in height, We decided to propose a descending section by sending the social piece backwards and at the same time gain a height and a half of 4.10 m.
Looking for privacy and adequate control of the northern light, we decided to compress the opening by means of a structural beam towards a patio that generates a buffer for the light and noise towards the avenue. The light that is generated will be of a bluish and nuanced tone due to the north orientation and to the fact that we extended the white marble floor, covering the patio in its entirety except for a space for a thousand-year-old olive tree.
The house as a piece seeks a stereotomic language where the mass predominates and the piece is firmly implanted on the earth. The front façade responds to the solar orientation by means of a screen wall that blocks the rays from the south, reducing the temperature of the rooms facing the front. The combination of three materials, white concrete, a cement flat with white paint and a stone pavement give the façade an austere but elegant character.
