GD House
The project consist of a 800 m2 single storey private residence located on a 2000 m2 plot in suburban area in the northern part of Mérida. The house was designed for a young family of 5 with the goal of improving the family bond among them while adapting to the continuous growth and development of the family itself.
For that reason the core of the project holds the social area, arranged around a large terrace, which connects the family room, the dining room, the game room, kitchen, den, studio and finally the pool. The rest of the program is arranged in an “L” shape, along the north-south side of the plot, this in order to improve natural ventilation and to close towards the south and west.
As a result, the three main bedrooms are open towards internal patios on one side and to the 1000 m2 garden on the other. This voids filled with greenery create microclimates, which adding to the cross ventilation, reduces to a minimum the need of air conditioning. The rest of the program, which is the service area consist of two bedrooms with bathroom each, living room, storage and mechanical, laundry and a five car garage.
The materials and finish palette is constrained, reduced to limestone marble sourced locally for the indoor flooring and local wood decking for outdoor. All the windows have matte painted aluminum, in the same color as all the light steel structures, which have bamboo ceilings. Some of the walls are made of cast in concrete with red earth or cancab in mayan, therefore their red color.
The walls, which are cast with an undulated molding are intended as a counterpoint to the stucco walls, and they accentuate the pass of sunlight. This construction technique is the result of the rediscovery of traditional building techniques and materials used during the colonial and posterior eras of the Yucatan region, which are readapted to contemporary materials and uses.
