Location

Sergio Buitron Casas, SM 308, MZ393, Col. Alfredo V Bonfil, Benito Juarez, Cancún, Quintana Roo.

Areas

Complex total area: 2,000 m2 Building area 661.42 m2

Building area casa M 255 m2
Building area casa D 310.42 m2
Pool 59 m2
Building area entrances and lot wall 96 m2 Green area 1,338 m2

Timetable

Project start date. January 2010
Complex construction start date. July 2010 Casa M delivery date. March 2011 Complex delivery date. January 2012

Total Investment

$ 330,000 USD

Descriptive Report

We need to understand that the globalized world can offer us help and cultural exchange, but we must value that which makes a particular region unique. Alexander Tzonis

Brothers Mario and Diego Senties requested us to design a pair of houses in a 21,528 ft2 estate within the jungle at Bonfil, Municipality of Benito Juárez, Cancún, Quintana Roo.

The analysis of the land came to us naturally. This is ground snatched from the wilderness, so only the existing large trees and the almost squared-shaped proportions could be preserved. However, constructed roads built with a material unknown to us but used for thousands of years in that region, named SASCAB, aroused our curiosity and defined the design line we followed further.

Advocates as we are of the approach known as Critical Regionalism, we try to incorporate to our projects contextual elements of unique shapes in order to make observers and users unconsciously perceive the construction as part of its specific location. Likewise, remains of Prehispanic Architecture along the Puc Route, with their large rectangular proportions and sills, helped us create a sense of belonging that distances us of from the uniformity of modern architecture and takes us closer to rediscover a more sensitive and reasonable one.

The premises underlaying the design of the architectural layout included:

Sustainability
Thermal comfort Independence
Use of the whole estate Preservation of existing trees Regional raw materials

Local labor force

Each house is located on an independent 10,764 ft2 area, so that they can be separated by means of a wall if necessary. However, we also had to consider the visual and spatial integration of both houses.

The 15.75 and 23.62 inches walls made out of packed down sascab (mud wall) define and shape both indoor and outdoor spaces, besides helping maintain thermal comfort. Their high thermal insulation coefficient minimizes air conditioning usage, so we employed them as protection against the sun at both east and west orientations.

Residual spaces are protected by the shades resulting from built volumes or terrace's roofs, maintaining thus thermal comfort.

In housing spaces, such as dining, living and bed rooms, roof height is 15 ft. Together with the cross ventilation obtained from splayed windows and lattices along both houses, this ensures heat dissipation.

Cement floors in different areas rise to serve as support for the sascab walls, working both as plinth indoors and protection against rain water outdoors.

Regional woods, such as zapote and tzlam, were used for the structure of terraces and interiors. Cast granite bars, polished cement coating, concrete cornices, rusted steel beams, aluminum, local glass and paint constitute the simple finish palette that allowed us to reduce construction investment to $6,500 MXN per 10.7 ft2, while maintaining spaces above the norm.

Separation of the public from the private is essential for these clients. Thus, we sought spatial and visual independence for each of the houses, which face their own garden. They share the public outdoor area, so that family interaction is encouraged when needed.