La Lomita
The creation of this space is born through the interaction with various community organizations with the purpose of conceiving homes. With the intention of being replicable in areas with similar climatic conditions to the Valle de Bravo basin, this project takes place in the State of Mexico.
From a local alternative and with identity, and the intention of being replicable in areas with similar climatic conditions, the interaction with diverse community organizations such as the RED del Renacer del Campo, the Escuela Flor y Canto and the farming families of the basin, shows the desire of building local. Which reflects the sense and desire to connect with our origins and beliefs because what is local is also familiar.
La Lomita is named after its location: Situated on top of a hill at the end of a single road. It is a shelter which overlooks the monumental geography of the mountains that surrounds it, settles slightly, with low impact and reasonable size. It occupies only twenty percent of the actual land, this allows to complement it with a very generous productive area in which edible and medicinal plant species of the Valle de Bravo basin are planted -rescuing the Mayan tradition of backyard cultivation- and also assures that the family will be fed.
The construction system is a simple assembly, that allows the reuse of wood parts and responds to the relatively extreme bio-climatic parameters: rain, humidity and high solar incidence. A well designed wooden building enhances the thermal properties of this material and becomes aesthetically pleasing. The house provides great thermal comfort and is versatile to every season. The arch of the roof was recovered from a previous construction and marks exactly the path of the summer sun.
The housing unit has a rainwater harvesting system on the roof, which allows to have water supply for the consumption of the house and the irrigation of the garden. The water recirculation and sewage treatment systems are visible, through catchment and infiltration ditches, and sewage and wastewater treatment in wetlands that are integrated into the landscape design of the garden. The logic of water management makes sense with the surroundings and the construction.
This systems, in addition to the architectural object, designs along the landscape to also reduce the climate impact. To achieve the cost reduction makes it easy to replicate: factors such as the reuse of recycled materials, the efficient construction process due to the simplicity of assembled joints, the accessibility of the pieces: 8x8 pole which can be found in any place in Mexico, in addition to the low weight of the parts that come together. With a simple assembly and an ordinary material, it is possible to obtain a sturdy structure.
The model has been successfully replicated in various places, one of them became a storing place and distribution of organic products from the basin, it was built in six weeks and in community workshops where both consumers and producers worked with wood and assembly techniques to replicate them.
