Completed in July 2024, Casa Emma was designed by Mexican architectural practice HW Studio. Located in the city of Morelia in Michoacán, Mexico, the studio has transformed a small terrace house into a serene home, cocooned in wood and bathed with warm zenithal light.
Several years ago, the principals of HW Studio had the opportunity to visit the Paula Rego Museum in Cascais, a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal. Designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Eduardo Souto de Moura, the museum is notable for its two pyramid-shaped towers and distinguishing red-colored concrete. The architects from HW Studio recall: “Upon entering the museum, we were immediately moved. Beneath one of the pyramids, we were enveloped by a sense of awe and indescribable serenity.”
Light filtered through a high skylight, bathing surfaces in a soft, velvety warmth. The architects describe the light as “soothing, creating shadows and reflections that danced all over the walls and floors.”
HW Studio’s thoughtful approach to architecture seeks to eliminate that which is superfluous, thereby achieving “moments of inner peace through conscious contemplation.” In the studio’s work, light and space are often the main protagonists, given their capacity to create transformative experiences — this together with the studio’s recollection of its visit to the Paula Rego Museum provided the inspiration for Casa Emma.
The project seeks to convey a sense of calm and serenity through light with an emphasis on the potential for zenithal light to create an immersive experience.
HW Studio approached Casa Emma as an excavation exercise, carving a void in the shape of a “Purépecha granary” known as a “Troje”. (Purépecha are a group of Indigenous people from Michoacán in Mexico; a Purépecha granary — or Troje — is a traditional storage structure built from local materials and used to store corn and other grains.) Recalling a Purépecha granary, “the interior is made entirely of wood, aiming to accentuate this concept and make it more evocative of those traditional constructions,” explains HW Studio.
The small 54-square-meter (581-square-feet) house sits on a 4 by 10 meter (13 by 33 feet) plot. The home’s size and connection to properties on either side necessitated a zenithal approach to lighting and ventilation as well as an efficient use of space.
The building’s structure is made up of concrete and brick masonry walls, flat and sloped reinforced concrete slabs, and concrete floors and foundations. The exterior is plastered with chukum, resulting in an earthy, contemporary finish. Originating from Yucatán in Mexico, chukum is a natural coating made with resin from the chukum tree, mixed with water and stone powder.
Chukum has been used in the home’s entry hallway and bathroom; the remainder of the house is covered with engineered wood.
An access corridor at the front of the house leads to a central, open-plan space with living, dining, and kitchen areas. At the rear, there is a utility room and a stairway that ascends to a small hall, leading to a mezzanine-level bedroom and to the bathroom; the stairway continues onto a roof terrace. The space at the rear of Casa Emma differs in terms of its materiality and is described by HW Studio as “a white volume that floats within the house.”
“Our intention with this project is to provide visitors with an experience that awakens emotions and invites contemplation,” says HW Studio. “This house is an invitation to immerse in a world where light becomes the language of emotions and connection with oneself.”
