The CEFR House is built in one of the many housing complexes that are located at “Pedregal” area of Mexico City. Most of these sets have fixed lines for their construction and landscape, the factors that become challenging at the moment of intervention. The “Pedregal” of Mexico City is a unique ecosystem, plant and animal species coexist to give rise to one of the most peculiar contexts in the country. The challenging work to integrate the vegetation guidelines with the landscape proposal, while preserving the vegetal and formal typology of the place resulted in true achievement; Autonomous and sovereign but disciplined at the same time.
The landscape design manages the use of existing elements in the area, such as volcanic rock and endemic grass species. Different species of plants are chosen to reinterpret the stony landscape while adding at the same time the needs of the new users. A bed of volcanic rock was laid out that shelters in the recesses, the recovered species of the land was collocated and they coexist with new species proposed that stand up visible towards the front of the house.
The back garden sums up the contemporary concept, the design intensions dispose the plant species so that they generate particular gardens for each view from the interior. Due to the volumetry of the building, at sunset the back garden gives rise to three different sensations. The kitchen is cooled with stone pavement under the shade, the dining room rejoices in the flowering vegetation that surrenders to the foot of the walls and from the outside of the room, the permeable pavement suggests a connection with the rigidity of the interior floor with the flexibility of the lawn outdoors.
Finally, a secret garden inside the house gives place to the emblematic centre, one Arrayan three stands along its 7 meters high looking for light and proliferating from the ground to the third floor of the house. At the foot of the trunk, volcanic stones are rescued from the excavations. The result: a microclimate to give life to a small garden of ferns.
Entrant office name: PAAR TALLER
Role of the entrant in the project: Landscape project
Website: http://paar-taller.com/
Other design firms involved:
Project location: Mexico city
Design year: 2016
Year Built: 2017
