House facing a hackberry tree
We had to delimit the space for a single family house within a parcel with a parking and an orchard as a pre-existing elements, and the first important decision was to define it around a fantastic hackberry tree.
The new plot minimizes the facade to the street, and allows defining the necessary building conditions in a volume of two floors aligned to the street and facing the south side to a large patio around the hackberry tree, which will give meaning to the house.
The geometry of the plan recognizes the tree, with a concave façade, directing the planes of the facade towards it, in order to establish an intentional relationship which makes it more valued. On the other hand, this setback, will allow us to determine a variable width porch, getting the maximum depth just in front of the tree.
The main uses of the house are on the south side, facing the courtyard. On the north side, facing the street, we define a band of services and vertical circulation.
The three facade planes allow the definition of three zones that will contain the different main uses.
The center of the house is a singular double-height space that will characterize the interior and which will be facing the hackberry
tree.
On the first floor, this empty space separates the area from the main room of the rest of rooms, and allows the location of an office area with a direct view of the hackberry tree.
The presence of the tree structures, defines, qualifies and gives meaning to the house.
The tree can be considered as the foundational element of the place, a significant element, which protects us and pattern over time and becomes a new habitable reference area and therefore generates a new space for domestic use.
The house establishes formal linkages with the pre-existing tree, leading to the formation of a significant place, and at the same time giving it a clear sense of identity.
