House on the Forest

House on the Forest
Text by Ana Guerrero Santos

Every now and then a project has unsurpassable terms: a spectacular terrain with generous woodland, golf course view, a favorable slope, and if all these were too few, wonderful clients. This project is about inserting a house in the middle of the forest, a house that is solved in three grounds where the first one uses the slope for car keeping –as is the firm’s custom and vehicles come out of sight- as well as laundry and service areas, and a dancing room. All this subterranean part is perfectly illuminated by the light of the slope, and on the second ground all spaces are set to enjoy this beautiful forest view. Terrace, pool, dining, living and kitchen look out into the golf course and we save the heart of this floor to place a hall that generates a double height access which becomes the most important inner space, something that does not come in the program but as it happens, turns out to be one of the leading places of the project. There is a service staircase and then there is the family stair with a full studio that looks out to the tree lined-street, with the possibility of becoming a guest room.
To the third floor you must access by the double height hall which has these winding clefts in the roof that allow sunlight to pass through, moving according to the hour of the day and the season of the year. Main bedroom with vast dressing room makes the most out of the golf course view with a balcony, leaving the two children bedrooms to the street, each one with bath and dressing room.
The coexistence between architecture and nature is the challenge for a new generation of architects, and the way to place this house in the middle of the woods talks about this concern.

Location:
Fraccionamiento El Cielo
Tlajomulco, Jalisco, México

Date:
Project: 2010
Construction: 2012

Photography:
Mito Covarrubias

Site Area: 681.56 m2
Construction Area: 635.85 m2

Author:
Agraz Arquitectos SC.
Ricardo Agraz

Collaborators:
Brenda Barrón
Erick Martínez
Jessica Magaña
Gabriel Gómez
Javier Gutiérrez
Javier H. Aguirre
Israel Picos
Gabriela Villarreal
Juan Antonio Jaime
Marisol Reynoso
Humberto Dueñas
Blanca Moreno
Fernanda Palma
Miguel Sánchez
Marc Steven Fernández

Construction:
Salvador Aguirre