Mexican architecture studio Palma has renovated and extended the existing house that makes swimming pool and courtyard the heart of the house in the state of Nayarit in Mexico.

Named San Ignacio House, the house emerges as the renovation of a derelict house with new functions and space arrangement. 

The new program of the house contains the construction of two new volumes.

While one volume could function as a flexible space for photoshoots and different creative expressions, the second volume could be used as an outdoor living space that would allow a direct relationship with the pool.

In a site where the rate of inner courtyard is high under current conditions, the studio distributes reinforced concrete living units placed within the greenery in a square layout.

Playing with the solid-void relationship well, the volumes provide constant visual intact with the courtyard and make the users feel like they are living in a forest.

"Our proposal consisted of two main actions: the alteration of the existing house and the configuration of the central courtyard with the construction of the two new volumes," said Palma. 

The studio extended the existing volume according to the existing site limitations, they redistributed the bedrooms/bathrooms and added a private patio for the master bedroom bathroom as well as a small TV room and laundry room at the ends of the block. 

In addition, the architects removed the sheet metal roof that generated high temperatures and leaks during the rainy season and replaced it with a concrete slab that provides greater height to the rooms. 

This slab addition also allowed the possibility of including a series of skylights that allow more light to enter in; the intervention is materially perceptible with the new slabs cast in apparent concrete.

As the studio explained, the second important design component was the redesign of the central space, placing the pool in the center of the lot with the existing volume to the north and the two new volumes on the sides.  

To achieve some privacy between the pool area and the rooms, the design team used a series of short walls resembling the large palm trees found on the site, according to the studio, these walls also "define a portico with a bamboo roof that bathes the white walls in shadows."

The newly built volumes contain one closed and the other open serve as flexible spaces for different activities in the daily use of the house, while they maintain a constant relationship with the circular pool and the courtyard.

The architects implemented a landscape project that is intertwined with the existing house and the new additions. The team mainly used a pavement with buried bricks that seems to disappear as one walks from the house into the garden.

Floor plan - before

Floor plan - after

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Palma previously designed Litibú Bungalow, which combined two main functions with a central patio as a transition and multi-functional space on this 50-square-metre bungalow.  

Palma, founded in 2016 by Ilse Cárdenas, Regina De Hoyos, Diego Escamilla and Juan Luis Rivera, is a young architecture firm based in Mexico City and Sayulita.

The firm's design approach is based on a detailed analysis of the immediate context and a design process which is open to experimentation and exploration.

Project facts

Project name: San Ignacio House

Architects: Palma

Location: Nayarit, Mexico

Date: 2022

All images © Luis Young

All drawings © Palma

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