Project Description
This project is part of the Apan Housing Laboratory, which is featured in the August 2019 issue of ARCHITECT.
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Collecting ready-made objects, cultural artifacts, and ad-hoc building customizations from the local context, the proposed housing unit collages these elements into a new residential type. Familiar geometries and shapes reappear within this residence, applied to a new party wall (medianera) in a manner that recasts typically inflexible boundaries between interior and exterior, front– and backyard, open and closed. In addition to opening the house up to the landscape, this party wall allows for the later addition of new program elements that are connected to yet distinctly separate from the initial structure.
Notes: Playfully recuperating vernacular forms, materials, and construction methods, this house’s primary element is its (party) walls. Used almost graphically across all elevations, these walls produce no clear front for the project. Defining exterior spaces for socialization or, eventually, unit growth these are not blank, enclosing perimeter walls. Instead, located at the project’s center, they are open, public, constructive elements full of character.
Project Details:
State: Tlaxcala
Municipality: Tetla de la Solidaridad
Climate: Semicold
House Price: —
Constructed Surface: 48.22 M2
Floor-to-ceiling height: 2.60 M
Roof Type: Vault
Orientation: N–S
Growth Option(s): Horizontal
Wall Type: Wood-framed
Floor Type: Concrete Slab
Structure: Typical Wood framing; Prefabricated Wood Beams
Roofing: Clad
Details: —
Finishes: Plywood and Formica (Interior)
Project Credits:
Project: Apan Housing Laboratory
Architects: Pita & Bloom