The project is in a privileged topographic situation, due to its visual condition of greater height in relation to the surrounding neighbors. This allows the house to enjoy excellent vistas towards the National Park of Chipinque in the South, as well as towards the entire East, which is dominated in the horizon by the “Cerro de la Silla”, an emblematic hill in the boundaries of the city of Monterrey.
The proposed access to the site is located in the North side of it, ascending through a long slope that leads to the highest level of the hill, where the first level is located.
With simple, pure geometric volumes, but rather challenging structural solutions, the project intends to evoke an image of lightness within a language of heavy and massive volumes.
Although colour does not have yet an important presence the architects’ previous work, this project takes an important step forward into the exploration of new materials, as black granite and white fair faced concrete, as well as exposed steel.
Finally, it is important to mention that beyond its bio-climatic function, the implementation of green roofs as a way to integrate the landscape, trying to conserve the natural surroundings of the zone, always dominated by the presence of the splendid Sierra Madre mountain range. The house was conceived like a “Sustainable House” from the beginning, so it has an energy efficiency study, which analyzes the sun trajectory and the prevailing winds in diverse seasons of the year. As a result of this study, the house has diverse systems of isolation, like its double walls with polyisocianurate (an improvement on polyurethane), an ecological insulator; double windows with low emissivity (Low-E) glass; systems of pluvial water harvesting and gray water treatment for irrigation, solar paddles for pool heating and garden illumination, solar water heaters, hydronic heating systems to reduce the power consumption, south oriented skylights, as well as a landscape project with native vegetation.

ARCHITECT: GLR arquitectos – Gilberto L. Rodríguez, Monterrey, México, www.glrarquitectos.com. LOCATION: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. AREA: 12,920 sq ft. PROJECT TEAM: Felipe Dorado, Tomas Güereña, Joaquin Jenis, Oscar O’Farrill, Diana Guerra. DATE: 2009.

COPYRIGHT: GLR arquitectos – Gilberto L. Rodríguez. PHOTOES: Jorge Taboada.
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