Project: Casa Once
Architects: Espacio 18 Arquitectura + Cueto Arquitectura
Location: Puebla City, Mexico
Area: 2,680 sf
Photographs by: Lorena Darquea
Casa Once by Espacio 18 arquitectura + Cueto arquitectura
Espacio 18 Arquitectura has designed Casa Once in Puebla City, Mexico in collaboration with Cueto Arquitectura. This beautiful modern dwelling offers about 2,700 square feet of luxurious living spaces designed in a minimalist style with plenty of access to sunlight and views to the outdoors.
Casa Once was designed as a tailor-made suit for a young couple who were looking for a refuge that would take them away from the outer chaos and create a space of tranquility to enhance their human development. The house is located in a single family complex in the city of Puebla, where the real estate sector has grown dramatically and imposes projects that do not always meet the current and future needs of people. The price of land has increased as a result of this “boom” so that each time the properties are smaller and more exclusive, from there we set out solutions to respond and generate a good project contemplating the conditions of the 150m2 land property and the internal regulations of the community.
The scheme starts with exercises of subtractions from the architectural program, finally creating an “I”, this scheme allows a correct and thought natural lighting at different times of the year, in addition, to cross ventilation, which can be controlled by the user. The perforations in the project result in patios that enables all the areas to have a spatial fluidity, offering green views from any point of the house and introducing the surprise factor. Also, the limits of adjacency in the back of the property are respected.
The project is developed in 3 levels. On the ground floor, the social areas are distributed, opening onto the courtyards, where the program is extended and joined by means of glass screens. On the first level are the bedrooms, with views of the sky and an “Acacia” tree, which gives strength to the patio and that in spring will change to a purple color, becoming a major landmark inside the house. Finally, on the second level is the entertainment area, services and the roof garden with a panoramic view of the volcanoes.
The façade responds to the program and comes from the idea of living the house inside the walls, avoiding openings to the street and unnecessary elements, the vaulting allows a light bounce back to the studio, controlling visuals and lighting during the day. We generated, defined and interpreted the materiality through the internal construction regulations, exposing natural wood and black pigmented stuccos. Inside, the engineering floor, furniture, carpentry and wooden beams provide warmth, smells, sounds, and textures in all spaces. In the bathrooms, the tiles of Oaxacan artist Francisco Toledo allow us to introduce an artistic side and to remember another city that has given us a lot as an architect. Casa Once gathers different qualities that allow an exercise of rational and objective architecture, that responds to a user, a society, and a place.
