Casa Cerro Gordo
Project Status: Completed
Project Year: 2022
Use: Residential
Client: Private
Area: 1,212 m2
Location: Cerro Gordo, State of Mexico
Design: MCxA
Context
The house occupies a site defined by a creek, a natural feature that becomes the fundamental organizing element for the architectural intervention. The 100-meter length represents an exceptionally elongated footprint that transforms the house from a compact object into a linear element crossing the landscape, creating a bridge-like relationship between land masses separated by water.
This scale and configuration allow the residence to span the creek entirely, positioning portions of the living program directly over the water body and establishing dramatic relationships between interior domestic spaces and the dynamic natural feature below. The rugged landscape context suggests terrain characterized by natural topographic variation, native vegetation, and unmanicured character that distinguishes the site from manicured suburban settings, creating opportunities for architecture that engages rather than domesticates wild natural conditions.
Design Principles
The organizational strategy unfolds along a horizontal line, emphasizing linearity and creating a procession through connected spaces rather than the centralized planning typical of conventional houses. The main living area and master bedroom are strategically positioned over the water body, creating the sensation of a floating house where primary living spaces hover above the creek rather than sitting firmly on solid ground. This positioning maximizes the experiential drama of the water's presence—its sound, movement, reflections, and cooling effects become constant companions to daily domestic life rather than distant amenities viewed from afar.
The house opens completely to the surrounding landscape, employing extensive glazing and minimal visual barriers to maximize views from every room and dissolve boundaries between interior and exterior. This transparency ensures that the rugged landscape remains constantly visible and present regardless of occupants' location within the house, preventing any sense of retreat into enclosed domesticity separated from nature. The design aspires to redefine typical country houses in the region, challenging conventions around how rural residences relate to their sites and what domestic comfort means in landscape settings. Rather than creating protected retreats sealed against natural elements, the project embraces exposure and integration, demonstrating that country living can involve intimate engagement with landscape rather than observation from comfortable distance, and that dramatic architectural gestures spanning creeks and floating over water can provide compelling alternatives to conventional rural residential typologies.