Casa Huitepec / JC Arquitectura

Casa Huitepec / JC Arquitectura

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Text description provided by the architects. The house is developed in a manner that takes advantage of the potential of the site (topography and views) since it is located in a privileged area on the hill Huitepec de San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, with a temperate climate with low temperatures of up to 6 ° C, a region with a lot of tradition, culture and history.

The design intentions are based on the need to create an honest and transparent architecture, relying on the use of sober materials such as marble, quarry, onyx, wood, red earth from the region and polished finishes on floors and walls. These materials generate by themselves a warm environment with an identity suitable for the conditions and situations of the place.

The project is proposed as a habitable nucleus strategically positioned in the center of the site. This allows linking complementary spaces such as the study, fire pit and wine cellar to the main volume and to accentuate the potential of the location by generating views towards the east that opens up to the city and the existing natural context.

Upon arrival, we are greeted by an open circulation platform used for parking the private vehicle. The platform also functions as a cover for the study room. It culminates with a closed wall with two entrances, a private access at the level of the garage that connects directly with the circulation of the rooms and a social access that is reached after the descent of a staircase that develops according to the topography of the lot and is accompanied by a side garden that leads to the door.

The arrival wall is complemented by the vertical circulation, forming a transition between the public vs. private and the public vs. social areas. By housing the vertical circulation nucleus, it opens up to triple height that culminates with the entry of overhead light, allowing the reinterpretation of a trombe wall which captures all the possible heat from solar radiation that the house needs and distributes it to all the spaces within the habitable nucleus.

Immediately after the social access, the spaces of the living room, dining room and kitchen unfold with a view and access to a small terrace connected to the exterior spaces by means of descending tracks. The terrace surrounds the existing original peach tree and adapts to the natural topography of the site in order to reach the cellar, which is also used as a base for the fire pit, connected to the terrace by means of a small bridge.

The fire pit serves as the visual finish of the social area, contained by a low wall that allows better visibility of the city. The arrangement of the furniture is designed in a manner that allows the user to obtain a visual enjoyment of the rear facade that houses a warm atmosphere. The two floors above the social zone contain the volumes of the private area, placing the main bedroom on the third floor with the best view and level of privacy, assuming that due to the current situation we are going through, the best way to take care of ourselves is to stay at home, while still feeling like being in the city.