AM house

The design of the house by Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura in Mexico includes a solution that considered the trees as permanent residents within the house.

The AM House is a getaway country house for a family of four, built a few kilometers away from the city of Guadalajara. The site is immersed in an orchard filled with coffee shrubs, walnut and mango trees. The clients required that the trees would remain untouched, which pushed the design to include a structural solution and emplacement that considered the trees as permanent residents within the house.

Img.1 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Img.2 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Img.3 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Img.4 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Img.5 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Img.6 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Img.7 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Img.8 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez
Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, plan
Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, section
Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, section

  The house is a retelling of the traditional courtyard house, growing around a piece of the orchard in a single level plan, with open spaces that allow a constant relationship between indoors and outdoors. The elliptical footprint of the plan, dynamically shifting with setbacks and extensions along its looping axis, allows for the different parts of the program pieces to relate, while simultaneously preserving existing trees, opening visuals and modulating light with light-wells and windows.

Img.9 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez

The body of the house seeks to mimic the context with its materiality, providing different atmospheres for gathering, rest or contemplation. Built exclusively with regional materials and local craftsmanship, the house is the result of a rich and constant dialog and action between clients, architects and craftsmen, including a heavy dose of on-site decision making, improvisational drawing and design.

Img.10 Departamento de Arquitectura + CoA Arquitectura, AM House, Amacueca, Mexico, 2017. Photo Onnis Luque e Francisco Gutierrez


AM House, Amacueca, Mexico
Program: single family house
Architect: Departamento de Arquitectura (Jorge Rivera G.) + CoA Arquitectura (Francisco Gutiérrez P. and Diana Quiroz)
Design team: Andrea Romero, Mariana Murguía, Isadora Vargas, Fernando Cervantes (Departamento de Arquitectura), Alberto Avilés, Saraí Chavez, Adriana Osuna, (CoA Arquitectura)
Structural design: Ulises Vázquez (CIEgdl), Juan Jesús Aguirre (Ceromotion)
Completion: 2017