In a vast forest area in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, Taller Héctor Barroso has built five-weekend houses, which adapt to the site’s topography. They are surrounded by pine trees that echo the sound of the wind.
Each house—identical in its typology—consists of six volumes positioned in a way that they generate a void, a central patio. The patio grants views, silence, and intimacy.
To the north, the volumes are solid and closed. To the south, they open up to the garden and the forest, supplying the interior with daylight.
On the ground floor, living, dining, the kitchen and one of the bedrooms expand to the exteriors to join terraces, patios, and the garden. On the top floor, three bedrooms frame the views of the magnificent pines.
The materials, such as brick, wood, and soil are all regional. The soil from the excavations has been taken and reused as the main material to cover the walls. Thereby, the architecture literally emerges from the ground.
Photo credit: Rory Gardiner
Designed by: Taller Héctor Barroso
Technical Info
- Location: Valle de bravo, México.
- Architect: Héctor Barroso
- Project Manager: Thalía Bolio
- Collaborators: Ar. Vianney Watine and Ar. Diego Rentería
- Engineers: Ar. Ricardo Camacho and Ar. Tomás Rodríguez
- Completion date: 2017
- Total built area: 1,700 m2
- Photo credit: Rory Gardiner
- Press distribution: v2com
About Taller Héctor Barroso
The firm led by architect Hector Barroso seeks to generate architectural proposals that manage to merge with their environment, taking advantage of the natural resources of each place: the influence of light and shadows, the surrounding vegetation, the composition of the land and the geographic. Thanks to this, the projects merge in harmony with the environment that surrounds them, creating spaces that emphasize the habitable quality of the architecture.
