N House | Agraz Arquitectos S.C.

Text by Ana Guerrerosantos

This project, named [ N ] House, was designed to enhance a particular local tradition that is about building the living spaces of a house around a patio, this as a consequence of the client’s request: a couple with two young daughters.

The [ N ] House is based on three levels: garage area is located in the basement together with service areas and a game room. The stairway, attached to the central wall, creates a spatial connection between all these different levels of the house, also acting as the meeting point for dwellers right in the moment when they exit the private rooms.

First floor is where the hall, dinning room, and kitchen are, surrounded by a minor patio where a tree offers peace for these areas. Right on the side, living room and family room are also framed by this patio. Last but not least is the second floor where the three bedrooms enjoy both the patio and garden views.

The wrapping of the house is almost transparent because it was

conceived as a complete viewpoint for the garden. Whereas in the upper floor, walls predominate to offer privacy and security to the users of the rooms.

However there is a constant dialogue between volumes through a meticulously designed rhythm for solid and clear, transparent and opaque, offering inhabitants a promenade of lights and shades.

Neatness in the elaboration of the constructive detail, all along the design and constructive processes make a virtue out of simplicity, and the material language is converted into a rich and complex world.

The [ N ] House cannot be defined as an object but as a diversity of spaces that came out of the combination of opaque and transparent surfaces that lightly separate nature and dweller. Hence, architecture allows an intentional relationship with the outside due to the fact that there is no real boundary between interior and exterior. We are not talking about shy spaces, but as of those that get along with the outside.

DATASHEET

Location: Zapopan, Jalisco. Mexico.

Assignment: 2004

Construction: 2005

Author: Ricardo Agraz & Agraz Arquitectos S.C.

General Contractor: Salvador Aguirre Cordero.

Collaborators:

Oscar Canovas.

Beatriz Ramirez Romero.

Alberto Tacher.

Sara Tamez.

Woodwork: Esteban Gutierrez Velazco.

Aluminum: Ventalum.

Lighting: Sergio Talancon Crail.

Bathrooms: Ramses Galindo.

Stone: Luigi Sasso.

Paint: Alejandro Perez.

Marble: Rafael Ceja.

Interior design: Elena Bueno de Niño de Guzman.

Photography: Mito Covarrubias.

Art: Hector Navarro.

Land area: 607m2

Builded area: 553m2