When designing Casa Graciela, a weekender in the popular vacation area of Santiago Tepetlapa, Mexican architects Jorge Ambrosi and Gabriela Etchegaray had a number of environmentally-focused goals. The Ambrosi Etchegaray founders wanted to establish an uninterrupted relationship between built environment and place, and to optimise the found terrain, as well as the outdoor lifestyle, which can be enjoyed all year round in this consistently mild area.
To achieve this they broke up structural elements, such as terraces, stonewalls and concrete slabs, submerged outdoor platforms in the landscape, and allowed nature to weave in and out of the various architectural spaces. A large terrace was also constructed at the property's highest, rear, point to best appreciate views.
Take an interactive tour of GP House
Structures were built by local people from stone, adobe block, timber, marble and concrete, which were all sourced in the region. These raw, simple materials were chosen to emulate the materiality of the local architecture, and for the fact that they will increasingly blend into their setting with age.
As so often happens in life, the biggest project challenge came from the thing that initially attracted. This remote and ruggedly beautiful setting lacked full utility infrastructure - in particular, the site had no available potable water or close power main. In the end, Ambrosi and Etchegaray found solutions to these challenges, which were not only practical, but greatly enhanced Casa Graciela's aesthetic and atmosphere.
In addition to installing cisterns for potable water collection, rainwater needed to be gathered for passive irrigation of planned landscaping. The latter challenge ultimately inspired a sequence of striking, water elements, including a gravity-fed water channel, which falls from the property's highest point - through contemplative ponds and a lap pool - to the cultivated gardens on the property's lower levels. These serve to reduce the local high and dry temperatures while creating a cool and contemplative environment, which is enhanced by the omnipresent sound of moving water.
Casa Graciela's open pavillion faces a horizon of jagged mountains and its dispersed structures and ponds hug the undulating terrain to finally create a home with beautifully blurred lines between inside and out.
The Ambrosi Etchegaray team had a number of environmentally-focused goals in mind, when designing this project
They wanted their structure to be as respectful to the surrounding mexican nature as possible, weaving it into the landscape
To achieve this they broke up the overall volume and embedded the house in its surroundings, allowing nature to enter the house
The house was built by local people from stone, adobe block, timber, marble and concrete
These raw, simple materials were chosen to emulate the materiality of the local architecture, while blending into the scenery
The complex features a strong water element. The architects installed cisterns for potable water collection...
...while rainwater needed to be gathered for passive irrigation of planned landscaping
The water also serves to reduce the local high and dry temperatures
Indoors and outdoors areas blend as one in various parts of the house...
...while a large terrace was constructed at the property's highest, rear, point to best appreciate views
INFORMATION
For more information on the architects visit the Ambrosi Etchegaray website
Photography: Rafael Gamo
-
Serenade your senses at Farasha Farmhouse in MarrakechFarasha Farmhouse is a serene escape hidden on the outer reaches of Marrakech
-
‘Bio-spaces’ exhibition at Roca London Gallery celebrates biophilic design‘Bio-Spaces: regenerative, resilient futures’ opens at the Roca London Gallery as ‘a call to action to stop designing nature out’
-
Les Lalanne’s surreal world takes over Venice‘Planète Lalanne’, presented by Ben Brown Fine Arts, takes over Palazzo Rota Ivancich, with a cast of blue hippos, woolly sheep and giant grasshoppers
-
Antonio Solá offers a residential haven of calm in Mexico CityAntonio Solá, a new housing project by architecture studio Módica Ledezma, is a complex of four townhouses that offer serenity in the bustle of Mexico City
-
A Mexican artist’s studio makes the most of light and volume in San Miguel ChapultepecA Mexican artist's studio and home, designed by JJRR in the heart of Mexico City, makes the most of volume and light for its owner, Stefan Brüggemann
-
Pabellón de la Reserva and its sustainable architecture nod to its natural settingPabellón de la Reserva by architecture studio Hemaa offers an idyllic countryside getaway, a stone's throw from Mexico City
-
Orchid Pavilion channels Japanese philosophy for blossoming flowers in Puerto EscondidoOrchid Pavilion by CCA Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica provides fitting shelter for flower conservation in Mexico's Casa Wabi
-
Residential development The Village on the Yucatán Peninsula frames its verdant environmentThe Village by Sordo Madaleno is a meticulously composed apartment building, built on a strict grid with an emphasis on outside space and connection to site
-
1i Arquitectura’s House of the Tall Trees celebrates a spectacular forested siteThis Mexican retreat, House of the Tall Trees, makes the most of a wooded site with a striking combination of glass, timber and concrete
-
Casa Carrizo was designed as a breezy Mexican beach houseCasa Carrizo, designed by Mexican architecture studio BAAQ, is a beach house sitting on the idyllic shores of Mexico’s Pacific coast
-
Casa HMZ by Lucio Muniain offers a labyrinthine sense of gradual discoveryAn intriguing new build by Lucio Muniain channels the best of 20th-century Mexican architecture
