Arquitectura

casa norbu
Architecture

acatitlán, valle de bravo, state of mexico

Design of a three-bedroom house and a pool among the forest of Acatitlán.

terraza alumnos
Architecture / Furniture Design / Landscaping

san miguel chapultepec, mexico city

Terraza Alumnos is a rooftop renovation that includes: sauna, office space, small kitchen, fire pit and outdoor shower in between greenery and the smell of Satsuma blossoms.

rancho santa elena
Interior Design / Sculpture / Landscaping / Edible Forest / Agroforestry System / Shiitake Production

san jerónimo, huasca hidalgo

Rancho Santa Elena is an old renovated pulque hacienda. The surrounding land was very impoverished by intensive agriculture and deforestation. This project has mainly been involved in articulating all the landscaping with other edible systems and gradually diversifying a very large pear monoculture orchard.

These include a biointensive vegetable garden, as well as other annual crops in between the pear rows; a young forest garden, Shiitake cultivation, chickens, rotating milpa fields and the regeneration of native forest.

Weaving the gardens are ponds, sculptures and other architectural features for example: a covered swimming pool and the interior design of rooms.

rancho El Peñón
Architecture / Interior Design / Landscaping

valle de bravo, state of mexico

This project is under the guidelines of the El Peñón ecological reservoir. It is located 2,600 meters above sea level where rain and changes of humidity and temperature often vary drastically in just one day. Lightning bolts threaten the electrical system.

It seemed important to build a house with a generous roof to protect and harvest rain, while leaving intermediate open spaces to live. The house has a perforated courtyard layout. Generating privacy but also winking towards the incredible views all around. The rooms were built on the ground floor, except for the master bedroom which has a privileged view and area on the second floor.

The rest of the lot has a generous edible ecosystem and vegetable garden.

rancho san simón
Architecture / Decoration / Edible Landscaping / Natural Pools

valle de bravo, state of mexico

Previously the land was a deforested agricultural lot with plenty of grass.
Or proposal was to regain fertility, create levels and harvest and distribute water more efficiently. We made ponds, reservoirs, natural pools and cisterns as well as drains and flow patterns for the water to get to the plants and landscaping.

Large excavations and earthworks were carried out, which were used to level the terraces, giving them their own character, and more mystery to the old pasture esplanade.  Some of the slopes were densified to retain the land with roots.  Others were retained with stone walls and semi desert gardens.  On the more moderate slopes flower meadows were planted. Architectural leisure areas that include outdoor living spaces, sauna, an ice-cold bath tub and a pizza oven were integrated.

The rest of the landscaping is an edible ecosystem with more than a hundred varieties of fruit trees, nuts, cooking and medical herbs, nitrogen fixing plants, pollinator attractors, biomass accumulators and other aromatic and ornamental plants.

Other areas were planted in the spirit of the neighboring oak, pine ecosystem mix.

cuarto azul
Architecture / Interior Design / Sculpture / Landscaping

ixtapa, guerrero

Design and construction of a pool, terraces, kitchen, and a loft-stye apartment amidst the native vegetation of the slopes of a mountain facing the Pacific Ocean. The project includes sculptures-pots designed for the project.

casa rosaleda
Architecture / Interior Design / Furniture Design / Edible landscaping

mexico city, mexico

Casa Rosaleda is the extension and renovation of a small studio built on a steep brittle slope in the 1990s. One bedroom, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and several terraces were added, as well as changes to the interior and exterior finishes. It was a challenge to rescue the gardens which were eroded and had poor soil.  This was done building terraces, planting lots of vegetation, composting and time.
Nutrients, nitrogen fixers, climbers and biomass generators were incorporated.  As a result, a great variety of plants were grown.  It has more than 30 edible perennial species, which feed squirrels, cacomixtles, possums, birds and a colorful variety of insects and humans.
A pond with fish attracts pollinators and there is a small orchard in the sunniest area.  The compost has produced about a half ton rich soil per year, which feeds into the garden.

Casa Hegel
Architecture / Landscaping

polanco, mexico city

Casa Hegel is a project of extreme renovation of a Spanish neocolonial or “Californian” style typical house of the 1940s that abound in the neighborhoods of Polanco and Lomas de Chapultepec in Mexico City.
The structural skeleton was preserved and the size of the kitchen enlarged. A second floor was built, several terraces, skylights and windows.  The rest of the lot was freed up for a generous hanging gardens, as well as a pond and bird pool.

Casas del sol
Architecture / Landscaping

ixtapa, guerrero

This project evolved under a guiding principle that evolves over time. Or, let´s say, it was slow cooked, in the spirit of a Mediterranean town. Common spaces and intimate corners continue to be built; rooms, terraces, patios, pools.

Details of masonry and carpentry have been made by hand coming from suggestions and teachings from local artisans.

casas sierra mesteñas
Architecture / Furniture Design / Interior Design / Landscaping

lomas de chapultepec, mexico city

This is a two house project. The large five-bedroom house oriented to the south-west lives towards a large garden, pond, patios, and a large roof terrace with a small pool. It is not an autonomous construction, however solar panels and rainwater harvesting give it some self-sufficiency. Gray and Black waters are treated for irrigation use.

The other smaller three bedroom house also has patios, terraces and a fruit garden.