Location: La Palma, Tabasco
Built area: 375m²
Date: 2010-2011
Project: Coutiño & Ponce Architects
Fabián Coutiño
Alicia Ponce
Structural Analysis: William de la Cruz Rodríguez
Project Management: Adrian Sarao Magaña
Photography: Fabián Coutiño

Ponce House is located in a plot of approximately 7.41 acres and it is part of a group of buildings that make up “Quinta Mamá Ali,” which will include four houses, pool area with "palapa", a small chapel, a playground and a ballroom.
It is located on the outskirts of the city of Villahermosa in the state of Tabasco, in the southeast of Mexico. Without a doubt, a premise for this project was  to take into consideration, as much as possible, the natural environment where the house is located.
The project is developed through the design of two perpendicular bodies that house the entire program. The main volume is structured by a passageway that extends 3.75 meters throughout the house, setting the area of the bedrooms in the northeast. This same body in opposite direction defines the service area comprised of kitchen, laundry area, court and maid’s room.
The lower body houses the remaining spaces. The living-dining area, located in the northeast, is defined by a rectangular space extending from the main body.

To the northwest lies parking space for three cars and all the spaces that provide services to the house are packed in the extension of this body.

The main facade is almost blind, its southwest location forced the decision to avoid openings, as in the Mexican southeast the incidence of the sun on the spaces that face this direction may make them uninhabitable.

However, the opposite facade is fully glazed with openings of 3.75 meters by 2.20 meters that make up the facade of the bedrooms and the living-dining area. The two meters of extension that the slab in front of this facade  has, configure a porch area that opens the space outward, towards the area where the pool will be located, making this entire perimeter an outdoor living area where you can enjoy views of open countryside that the location of the house provides.

The intention is that the materiality of the project  focuses on the use of "la cantera," highlighting the main body  with white limestone and the main facade with black stone over  the white stucco on the rest of the house,  this being an important part in the conception of the project.