Located outside the city, without drinking water services and drainage, in a rectangular land with a regular topography, the house is solved along the ground in 3 simple separated modules that allowed it to be built in stages. The spaces are linked by external circulations creating hallways that connects the inner areas with the serene environment that surrounds it. These hallways are sheltered by the big horizontal roofs of the extended modules.
The central volume contains the public open center of the house, a single space comprising kitchen - living room-dining room. The other surrounding ones contain the bedrooms, bathrooms and service.
The house is solved with eco-technologies (soapy water filter, dry toilets and solar heater) making it a home with a lower amount of water and gas consumption. It was built following earth building manuals, and studying several examples of this kind of constructionsaround the region.
The materials used are: structural adobe walls glued with mud; tapial with 5% cement and clay finish, straw and flattened ground lime-sand without cement. The ceilings are beams and wooden stave combined with a light covering of concrete. The floors, made of polished concrete. The steel is in doors, windows and as a supporting element in the public volume. This combination of natural and industrial materials makes this project a warm and comfortable place.
Local people participated in the construction of this house, which had never done work with earth walls or with this kind of construction before. Architects and engineers had a basic conception of building with earth, learned from courses, books and manuals. This house gave us the opportunity to compare the cost of building with natural materials, and the current ways of construction, using materials that spend too much energy.
Material Used:
1. Aceros Ocotlán - Beam, Welden Mesh
2. Ladrillos Garcia’s - Adobe 40x30x10cm, Brick 12 X 7 X 25cm
3. Sociedad Forestal Juanacatlan S.P.R. DE R.L – Wooden Beams 5”X4”X 6 M, 10”X 4” X 6 M, 12”X 4”X 6 M
4. Cemex - Gray Cement, Black Cement.
5. Calidra - Lime
