ML House | Agraz Arquitectos S.C.

Text by Ana Guerrerosantos

ML house has been conceived as an architecture that is capable of containig and perpetuating  the spirit of each member of the family; an art form that enhances the day inn, day out with its singular presence and becomes the lively back-drop for the making of the  personal momoire .

The projet proposes the disolution between the urban and the residential boundaries; the street transforms into plaza and  the  interior becomes a garden  that overlaps within the private and the public. Space configuration becomes a variable resulting from the   interplay between light and shadow.

Once the front  sculpture is left behind, the entry garden appears as an overwhelming  water mirror that captures surreal images of the sky and the tree branches that  overflow from within the fountain.

The entry event occurs under the undulating wood ceiling that clarifies circulation around the ineterior court; natural light permeates the double hight ceiling through a wooden skylight and  transforms sun rays into seasonal patterns. Natural light becomes an ornament that transforms light and shadow into an everchanging play of surface and texture.

Vertical Circulation is conceived as a continuous spine that emerges from the undergroud and favours visual permeability through different levels and functions. Its architecture makes a gesture of fragile articulation that is consistent with the transparency of space and overlapping of function.

Living and dining in the ground floor benfit from their southern orientation and make direct contact with the exterior gardens and patios; the upper level, eventhough having interesting views towards the exteriors, makes the best profit  out of the scheeme by using the central court as the catalitic element that allows better independence from its  urban surroundings. The family rooms in ground floor and in the upper level, stack up one upon the other towards the north, in order to make a better use of light for their destined activities and also in order to conform with the volumetric intentions of the main elevation.

ML house not only gathers togather the effort of two architectural firms that highly apretiate  the refinement of design, but  also promotes the participation of artists, industrial designers and a photographer in order to transform space into an adecquate scenario for the  ideal way of living  expected by its inhabitants.  

DATASHEET:

Location: Guadalajara, Jalisco

Project: 2006

Construction: 2007

Designers: Ricardo Agraz & Agraz Arquitectos S.C., Paolino Di Vece

Collaborators:

Alberto Tacher

Sara Tamez

Marisol Reynoso

Juan Antonio Jaime

Jessica Magaña

Javier Gutiérrez

Edgar Benítez

Luís Enrique Reynoso

Construction: Planeación Integral Constructores, Ing. Rodolfo Ojeda Ezeta

Wood work: Esteban Gutiérrez

Aluminium: Ico Alum, León Cabrera

Ilumination: Construlita, Sergio Talancón

Baths: Bathaus, Ramsés Galindo

Stone: Luigi Sasso

Marble: Javier Covarrubias

Kitchen: Mobile

Art: Fernando Sandoval, Adrián Guerrero

Interior design: Liliana Lavin

Industrial design: Cubo 3, Héctor Navarro

Photography: Mito Covarrubias

Site area: 730m2

Construction area: 615m2