Casa Andes is a residence designed for a family of four, situated on a rugged, irregular lot with a negative slope, within the privileged setting of the Altozano golf course in Morelia. The design stems from a deep interpretation of the natural and architectural context, orientation, and topography, giving rise to an architecture that is restrained, sensitive, and deliberately oriented to frame the landscape without sacrificing privacy.
The guiding principle of the project is the domestication of light. More than illuminating, the architecture seeks to nuance—allowing twilight to speak, brightness to be dosed, and shadow to structure the spatial experience. The formal composition, sober yet expressive, unfolds over three levels following the descending topography of the terrain. The material palette—including volcanic stone, earth-toned walls, and wooden ceilings—enables the house to blend visually and materially with the Michoacán landscape.
From the access point, the south façade is revealed as an introverted front, emphasizing the dominance of solid over void, and is carefully protected from the western sun by a screen wall. This blind skin extends like a suspended sail that filters light and guides shadow. The gesture is complemented by a floating roof that not only provides solar protection but also frames the arrival, emphasizing the horizontality and lightness of the volume.
It serves as a careful transition between exterior and interior, where the architecture establishes a spatial sequence that privileges sensory experience. From the outset, the inside/outside relationship is expressed through a conscious manipulation of natural light, which filters and projects across the material planes, generating warm and shifting atmospheres throughout the day. The circulation path is enriched by carefully framed visual endpoints, highlighting vegetation, textured walls, and fragments of sky.
In contrast to the south façade, which is restrained to respond to solar radiation conditions, the north façade adopts an open and expansive language, appropriate for its favorable orientation and the desire to visually integrate the house with its natural surroundings. This façade becomes the most expressive face of the project, allowing controlled entry of natural light and framing views of the golf course—one of the site’s main attributes.
The design responds primarily to the slope of the plot, which led to the scaling of volumes. This decision not only efficiently addresses the topography but also generates clear volumetric richness, with planes and masses shifting toward the landscape, creating terraces, balconies, and openings of various proportions. This terracing also facilitates a functional zoning, where each level connects directly to outdoor areas, whether gardens or resting patios.
The openness is mainly achieved through a system of floor-to-ceiling windows, protected by sloped roofs that, in addition to accentuating the compositional rhythm, act as passive solar protection devices. The use of noble materials such as stone and wood reinforces the intent to connect with nature, while elements like glass and integrated planters soften the transition between built form and landscape.
This north façade, therefore, is not just a formal gesture, but a synthesis of climatic response, terrain adaptation, and the will to inhabit the landscape. Its openness, fragmentation, and transparency intentionally contrast with the introversion of the south façade, reaffirming the dual and strategic character of the project.
Inside, entering at the first level, the residence is organized around a large void that integrates two of the three levels. The main vestibule serves as a threshold between exterior and interior, offering a carefully orchestrated spatial experience that favors the entry of natural light, the nobility of materials, and visual continuity. The spatial perception is broad and fluid thanks to the double height and the visual connection across the different levels of the house, where horizontal and vertical circulations are articulated with lightness. Natural light subtly enters from various orientations, tamed through strategic openings, creating a serene atmosphere.
The living room, dining area, and kitchen form a large open space where functional boundaries dissolve in favor of communal life. It presents as a contained and welcoming space, yet opens to the exterior through an adjoining terrace, reinforcing the bond between inside and outside. The double height that connects this space with the upper level is framed by an enveloping inclined ceiling, allowing a vertical reading of the project.
Materials used in these areas respond to a sensory logic, composing a neutral yet texturally rich color palette. This cohesive range provides visual unity and accompanies the user through the interior, creating a continuous architectural narrative. This entire level is defined not only by its physical boundaries but by a spatial, visual, and material interconnectedness, where natural light, diagonal paths, and finish coherence foster a harmonious living experience.
Returning to the vertical circulation core and descending to the lowest part of the house, we find the basement. This becomes a playful and introspective space, distinct from the functional logic of the rest of the house. The basement is one of the project’s most unique spaces, designed as an intimate gathering environment. The owner, with a particular fondness for social gatherings in a controlled and sophisticated setting, dedicated this level to entertainment and private interaction.
This level stands in stark contrast to the rest of the house through its distinctive atmosphere, marked by artificial lighting and a dark, enveloping material palette. The use of black marble for the floors, wood on walls and furniture, creates a warm and elegant ambiance that culminates in the wine cellar—a focal space that not only stores but also showcases the owner’s wine and spirits collection with precision.
The basement is accessible via two different routes: one integrated into the main vertical circulation core that connects all levels, and the second, an independent exterior access allowing for discreet entry by guests, enhancing the space's privacy.
The basement’s robust materiality contrasts with the upper levels, where natural light and lighter materials prevail. This contrast does not fragment the house but enriches its spatial narrative, highlighting the command of different atmospheres within a unified architectural language.
The upper floor is conceived as a space of elevated intimacy, establishing a direct relationship with the double-height void and views that connect the interior with the immediate exterior. This level houses the private areas of the residence—bedrooms and hallways—which maintain the project's material consistency. The open corridor overlooking the double height acts as a suspended walkway from which the full scale of the social space below can be experienced.
The bedrooms maintain the material rigor of the project, with neutral-toned walls, clean-lined furniture, and wooden elements that add warmth. Each room is strategically oriented to take advantage of cross ventilation and controlled views toward green exterior areas. In some cases, floor-to-ceiling windows allow the boundary between inside and outside to become porous, without compromising privacy.
This level consolidates the idea of vertical connection, not just as a functional transition between floors, but as a spatial gesture linking the social and the intimate, the public and the private. The upper floor thus stands as a place of pause and contemplation, where architecture builds the silence necessary for rest, without forgoing the spatial richness that defines the whole.
Casa Andes is, ultimately, an architecture of controlled silences—a project that responds to its site not only with climatic efficiency, but with a poetics of material, void, and shadow. A house that does not impose on the landscape, but frames it, filters it, and celebrates it.
