I House | Agraz Arquitectos S.C.

Text by Ana Guerrero Santos

The converged work of Ricardo Agraz, Paolino de Vece and Santiago Ibarrarán developed a strong and clean architectural concept that created the right environment to accommodate the needs of a single inhabitant.

Having privacy as a primary objective, the architects pursued the solution for a unique way of dwelling, bringing out a space where program sequences come to a minimal expression.

Therefore, endless interior spaces are the basis for the architectural solution, where a central patio vanishes any possible frontier in between the different atmospheres of the house.

The inside extends to the outside, creating a place that gives a beginning for a light and shade dialogue, a continuous flow between transition and contemplation, and a balance between user and observer of it all.

Scale plays an important role in the spatial sequence in order to link the main scheme in intimate relation with the patio. Therefore, walls have been reduced to the minimum and have been converted into a sort of casing element that also enhances the relation between what occupies space in its most basic form, and that which divides it, allowing a natural follow-up of the house’s program.

The double stories hall is the main bond of spatial elements as well. This is the place where the endless dialogue between volume and gap, light and shade, inside and outside begins, the place where the presence of a single space with diverse forms and atmospheres gains sense.

A simple and clear architecture that offers an easy reading of itself and the project, as a never-ending sequence of every balanced element held within. An honest architecture that deled with the east-west position of the site, and carefully answered with the mentioned patio that gives [ I ] House the chance to face southwards, having the main façade facing east, and hopefully fulfilling the client’s expectations.

DATASHEET

Location: El Secreto, Zapopan, Jalisco

Project: 2002

Construction: 2004

Designers:

Agraz Arquitectos SC.

Ricardo Agraz

Paolino di Vece

Santiago Ibarrarán

Collaborators:

Oscar Cánovas

Giovanna Gaggero

Beatriz Ramírez

Alberto Tacher

Sara Tamez

Construction: Salvador Aguirre

Interior design: Oscar Peña de la Mora

Wood work: Esteban Gutiérrez

Aluminium: Ventalum

Ilumination: Construlita, Sergio Talancón

Baths: Bathaus, Ramsés Galindo

Stone: Luigi Sasso

Paint: Alejandro Pérez

Marble: Rafael Ceja

Photography: Mito Covarrubias

Site area: 680m2

Construction area: 515m2