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Mexico – TACO taller de arquitectura contextual
Built Area: 42.0 m2
Year Built: 2019
Photographs: Leo Espinosa
Monte House is a holiday home located in a remote area in southeast Mexico. It’s a tiny home, just 42 square meters. Surrounded by nothing but tall trees, the house ensures the privacy of its owners. In a nutshell, it’s a place perfect for respite and relaxation – it offers comfort and peace, with cool winds that encourage rest.
The homeowners wanted a house that is both functional and welcoming. The brief was to create a home that would promote meditation and contemplation as it remains connected with the landscape.
The building sits on a platform, elevated. This way, animals that roam around the property would have difficulty entering the house.
Despite the small area, the house feels big – thanks to the double height ground floor. It contains dining, cooking, and lounge areas. This area opens up into a terrace.
The interior and exterior finish is rough stucco. Artisanal paint based on mineral and lime pigments give the house a rustic look which adds to its charm.
Notes from the Architect:
Monte House is a compact vacation home designed for a couple of young adults, immersed in the wild landscape of southeastern Mexico. The objective was to achieve a reflective and contemplative place that links the occupant with the surrounding wild landscape. An intuitive, functional and simple experience of living, but with great spatial warmth.
The location of the building is defined at the back of the property by issues of privacy and noise control; oriented in such a way that it works with insolation and dominant winds to achieve a comfortable indoor temperature.
The construction is on a platform elevated off the ground level, making it difficult for undesirable animals to access, and facilitating the construction process of the pool, since the terrain is rocky and excavations were not feasible. This was located in the shadow of a pre-existing tree, which is accessed through an open terrace, extension of the interior social area. The latter, of double height, contains a kitchenette, a living room and a staircase to reach the mezzanine that functions as a bedroom. Under the mezzanine there is a storage closet, a bathroom with an outdoor shower and the exterior staircase leading to the house entrance. The holding platform contains the warehouse and the machine room. All covered spaces total to total of 42 sqm.
The volumetry is orthogonal and of contrasting materiality. The exterior and interior finish is a rough stucco with artisanal paint based on lime and mineral pigments. For the carpentry, folding doors with operable louvers of regional cedar wood were used, which allow users to control the level of contact between the interior and the exterior.
The interior design is made up of a collection of design pieces in crude tones that incorporate handcrafted processes in their production. The landscape remains mostly in its natural state, where the rocky soil that maintains the building is manifested.
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Exterior Views:
Interior Views:
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If you like box-type houses, here’s another house you need to see – House on the Mist.
