Studio-House

Mexico City,

1997, 2003, 2012, 2017

Silver Medal.  Third Architecture Biennial of Mexico City CAM-SAM

The primary residence was part of the neighboring house, which was divided in five parts, and currently occupies the ground floor. Originally an idea of Francisco Artigas’, the structure was built almost fifty years ago. The new project incorporates a box which is superimposed on the original structure, which allows the new composition to fully embrace the originally intended vocation for modernity. It should be noted that the box—one and a half times the height of the preexisting structure—does not simply rest on the original house, but also includes it somehow, assimilating, integrating and virtually sorrounding it, perhaps due to the façade’s plane, which seems to extend forward and down to the ground through the pilotis. Thus, the end result is not the sum of both parts, but rather a new creation that allows the original structure to remain true to itself, but also recreates it. In this new unit, the materials establish the change: in this second phase, polycarbonate and a metallic structure appear over the concrete and glass. Contemporary signs are carefully inscribed on the linguistic framework suggested by the original residence: abstraction, neutrality and transparency, with a formal rigor that deftly eludes the compromise imposed by a context of strong historical connotations.    

Area

388 sqm

Type

Single housing

Client

Private

Status

Built

Project Scope

Conceptual design, architectural project, architectural supervision

Authors

Julio Gaeta / Luby Springall