Montes Pirineos / LEGORRETA & SEPÚLVEDA + BLANCASMORAN

Architects

LEGORRETA & SEPÚLVEDA, BLANCASMORAN
Location

Ciudad de México, Mexico
Category

Houses
Architect In Charge

Imanol Legorreta Molina, Pablo Sepúlveda de Yturbe, Abel Blancas Moran
Photographs

Rafael Gamo

Text description provided by the architects. The Montes Pirineos single family house is located in the west of Mexico City and is part of a third generation of architectural interventions in a residential neighbourhood created in the 1930s. The house was designed for a young couple with 3 kids and a dog.

All social areas of the house are located at ground level. At this level, the architectural programme is contained in volumes of different materials. Oak is used to contain the kitchen, the pantry and the toilet; stone is used for the volumes containing the family and the living room and lacquered metal is used to contain the garage and storage areas.

By using volumes instead of walls we intended to allow the space to flow between the interior and the exterior areas of the house.

The negative space generated in between these volumes creates the house circulations and the house main vestibule. The main stair is centrally located in this double height space and serves as a connection between the social and the private areas of the house. The double height hall is protected from the sun by a white concrete brise-soleil integrated in the lateral facade. This brise-soleil creates different atmosphere depending on the light quality of the day.

The project´s layout is set on a rectangular plot with elongated proportions. The main views for the bedrooms in the upper level and for the living and family room at the ground level are directed towards both extremes of the plot. The other areas of the house overlook a surrounding garden; this garden is intended to merge the exterior of the house with the interior, its limit is given by a transparent glass skin that protects the house from the elements