Casa de Ángela y Juan

Several organizations helped communities affected by Mexico’s September 2017 earthquakes, such as Ocuilan in the State of Mexico. We participated in one of the reconstruction initiatives organized by Pienza Sostenible, to provide a new home for Ángela an Juan’s family.

The family plot has a central patio around which different public and private constructions have been developed, responding to the needs of its inhabitants. Four families live on the site, which includes some communal spaces such as the bathroom, the kitchen, the laundry area and the central courtyard. Ángela, Juan and their children were spread out in three separate rooms, a situation that affected the family dynamics. The proposal was for a private and compact space with bedrooms that could be adapted to their needs and stages of life, including the future growth of a fourth module. Likewise, an adjacent service tower contemplates a shared bathroom and shower for all the families that live on the site. The new construction links to the existing complex via an open, plant-filled courtyard, establishing a new, central space where the nuclear family can relax and also be in contact with their wider community.

 

Ocuilan de Arteaga, Estado de México, 2018

60 sqm

Arbolada Metepec

 

The intervention adapts to the gaps between the trees. As a result, the entire program is enclosed in a single, L-shaped body with the access road and parking. The rigorous order and the modulation make full use of the space and optimize occupation of the ground surface.

In total, 300 homes, together with their respective amenities, are grouped in a single, 18-story volume organized around three vertical circulation cores, in turn arranged around three patios. This configuration ensures all the different apartment types have views, and concentrates the plumbing installations at the entrance to the apartments, which is very efficient in terms of clustering the installations.

The housing types vary by floor area and number of bedrooms by adding half and full-sized modules; one module is equivalent to the space between bays. The design of the interior spaces restores the human scale, which risks becoming lost given the complex’s size and the module’s repetition.

 

Metepec, Estado de México, 2017

88,620 sqm

Rancho Acatitlán

This project is located on a 2.5-hectare sloping site with a view of the valley of Acatitlán. Six volumes and five platforms are placed at different heights and “strips” within the terrain to house the interior program and complement the exterior uses of the site. The structure and the modular construction system generate open spaces with clear views towards the front of the site, while at the same time establishing a rhythm for the rear faces of each volume that seeks to give each of them privacy. The repeated structural elements show different environments that, together with the handling of light, differentiates the positioning of each volume in relation to its immediate context, as well as to the views of the valley landscape far off in the distance.

 

Valle de Bravo, Estado de México, 2017

2,015 sqm