Mexican architect Carlos H Matos has accomplished a concrete home designed to be an “ode to antiquity” and “futurity” in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.
Referred to as Casa Monte, the one-bedroom house was accomplished in 2023 with a roof terrace and a footprint of 150 sq. meters (1,615 sq. ft). It’s nestled between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean and serves as a rental property.
“It’s equally a tribute to the profound transformations that formed Mexico's constructed surroundings within the 20th century,” Matos advised Dezeen. “It has many pasts, distant and up to date, and a gift nonetheless taking form.”
The areas have been designed to encourage residents to be energetic and concerned. The shelter serves as a easy and serene counterpoint to houses with local weather consolation and digital entry.
“This fashion the home turns into deeply private and intimate and on the identical time common within the sense that it’s going to have a whole lot of customers who expertise the home and might embody the character, his lifestyle and rituals,” continued Matos.
Rising from cacti and low bushes, the ochre-coloured construction suggests 'refuge' within the open panorama, greater than 'house'. It’s situated subsequent to the artwork establishment Casa Wabi, designed by Tadao Ando.
Approached by a winding sandy path, Matos described the home as an experiment in isolation.
Constructed with greater than 1,500 blocks of coloured concrete poured into the earth, the structure is “essentially sculptural,” in accordance with Matos.
Clean blocks type the primary degree, outlining areas that blur the boundary between inside and exterior.
Organized as a portico set atop a platform, the bottom ground features a compact kitchen, an enclosed toilet and a semi-sheltered residing house that opens onto an oblong coated pool.
To the aspect, a small cube-shaped type holds a day mattress and is roofed with a inexperienced roof.
The portico nook accommodates a serpentine staircase that ascends to the higher degree, the place a sq. bed room occupies a lot of the ground space, however is softened and warmed by the picket flooring and window frames.
The lavatory is split into two elements on both aspect of the bed room, whereas a terrace with a planted backyard mattress is reverse the steps.
The blocks that make up the higher degree are raked in a vertically oriented sample and step again from the constructing's perimeter midway via the second degree, giving the looks that the constructing tapers in direction of the sky.
“A richly textured deck provides a full ocean view to get up to, a toilet house, and a slim staircase resulting in the roof completes the expertise after dusk,” mentioned Matos.
“This stretch of domesticated house in the course of an in any other case untouched panorama concurrently suggests previous civilizations and utopian gestures of the longer term, like an historical temple activated by elegant brass and metal units.”
Matos co-founded the Mexico Metropolis sculpture observe Tezontle, which contributed a sculpture and two tapestries to Casa Möbius as a part of Mexico Metropolis Design Week 2019.
One other lately accomplished concrete residence in Oaxaca is Espacio 18 Arquitectura's Casa del Alma, conceived as a “rock carved to create a sculpture.”
Photograph by Rory Gardiner.