A semi-buried platform towards the Mexican landscape. Hill House by Manuel Cervantes Estudio

Description of project by Manuel Cervantes Estudio

Hill House is located in a wooded area on one of the slopes of a ravine. One of the first lines of design is to take advantage of the visuals offered by the environment, the other is to take advantage of the orientation of the property to offer the best climatic conditions concerning the cold weather in much of the year. To this end, a semi-buried platform was generated to the north and exposed to the south, which is the orientation favored by the views, to which the windows of most of the spaces in the house were oriented. 

From a semi-buried vehicular courtyard, the house is accessed in a body flanked by two open interior courtyards that ensure the illumination of several of the spaces of the house.
 
In this access, we find a circulation that leads to the social area formed by the living room, dining room, and bar, with an open terrace that can be used in the warm days offered by the region. And the communication to the kitchen and maid's room. In the same corridor, we find an indoor pool with an opening through a large gate to an open terrace, there is a game room, a family room, the master bedroom with a painting studio, and access to a second communication, which leads to 4 additional bedrooms. 

The project is conformed linearly, which provides a clear view of the forest that surrounds the house from all living spaces. 

The house is achieved through a mixed structure of masonry walls, metal beams, and exposed wood, along with wood and other materials of the region, such as stone floors and some walls, rustic plaster, and exposed concrete walls, under the principle that governs us to offer a sense of integration to nature by the forms, respect for the site and the application of finishes and a chromatic range similar to the region.
 
The landscape project plays a key role in this house, generating a series of terraces through tecorral walls, which were designed to facilitate circuits of travel in the property, all this flanked by dry rivers, which allow channeling rainwater when it occurs containing its speed, facilitating its infiltration and reducing erosion that can be caused by the unevenness of the property.

The house integrates concepts of sustainability through rainwater harvesting and its use on the property.