HW-Studio was commissioned to design the unique Enso II house in the Guanajuato region, a place characterized by having a strong constructive identity. The house is located in the heart of the sometimes forgotten rural Mexico, with extraordinary landscapes that mark the beginning of the project that emerged from the intersection of two axes on a territory marked by horizontality.

Carrying out an anthropization in such an extraordinary context required a lot of attention, sensitivity and intelligence, which crystallized in previous analysis and recognition of the territory. From this process, the materialization of the house was extracted. Stone is not only an everyday element in this territory, it also characterizes the constructions in the area and those who build are well-versed in the material and are accustomed to its use.

The house is organized from a cruciform plan, "a cross of stone walkways that defines the routes, frames moments, and separates one quadrant from the other", organizes the land into four quadrants in which each of them assumes a program different: that of housing a garden in the first, housing the vehicles in the second, in the third the house itself and, in the fourth, the office.
HW-Studio designed an endemic garden in the first quadrant that reinforces and protects the nature of the environment while recognizing and welcoming the inhabitants. In the second quadrant, special attention was paid to preserving the trees on the plot, for two obvious reasons, they are natural elements of extraordinary value in a dry territory and also provide free shade that protects cars from the sun. As a frame for the landscape, a long stone wall was built that protects the entrance to the house and highlights the presence of the mountain in the background.

The living spaces, the house, located in the third quadrant, is made up of a continuous space; the meeting spaces are separated from the private ones by a volume that houses the bathrooms, the dressing room, and the service area. Finally, the fourth quadrant is singled out by the only vertical element, which contrasts with the horizontality of the landscape, the office.

The organization on one floor facilitates and allows movements, walking between spaces, and making contact with the earth, nature, air and mountains present. The whole frames the landscape at the same time that it becomes a natural part of it.


Enso House II by HW-Studio. Photograph by César Béjar.

Enso House II by HW-Studio. Photograph by César Béjar.
 

Project description by HW-Studio

When work began on this small house and after thorough historical research, it was concluded that there are few places in Mexico with a constructive identity as strong as Guanajuato. This is clearly reflected in its architecture, kitchen utensils, aqueducts, legends, and even in its heroes such as the Pípila, who carries a huge rock on his back so that the bullets of the conservatives would not reach his regiment.

In this area of the country, the stone is an element deeply rooted in any form of cultural expression. For this reason, the material for this architectural piece was very easily and naturally chosen.  In addition, there was a materials bank and capable labour nearby; a dialogue of respect between the artifice and its environment was encouraged. The entire complex is organized on the basis of a cruciform plan; thus, the space is divided into four quadrants by a cross of stone alleys defining the paths, framing all moments, and separating one quadrant from the other.

Once divided, a "vocation" was assigned to each of these quadrants: the lower right quadrant, which is the first one, receives the inhabitants upon their arrival; it has the vocation of housing an endemic garden that reinforces, protects, and welcomes living beings and humans. The second quadrant hosts the cars; special care was taken to the trees during construction, as they would provide shade to protect the cars from the sun. To top it off, a long, barely arched stone wall protects the entrance, avoids looking inside the house, and emphasizes the horizontal presence of the mountain in the background.


Enso House II by HW-Studio. Photograph by César Béjar.


Enso House II by HW-Studio. Photograph by César Béjar.

In the third quadrant is the one-bedroom house; the public spaces are separated from the private ones by a single volume containing bathrooms, a dressing room, and a service area, which breaks with the open floor plan. In the fourth quadrant is the office; this is the only visibly prominent vertical element that contrasts with the horizontality of the landscape and the rest of the elements, seeking with this gesture to flirt with the iconic volumes of the Santa Brígida mine in Mineral de Pozos.

The dispersion of these spaces forces a permanent pilgrimage between spaces; it makes you come into contact with the earth, the air, and the mountain as if it were an ancient monastery, framing the landscape but at the same time forming a natural part of it.

More information

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Architects
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HW-Studio. Lead architect.- Rogelio Vallejo Bores.
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Project team
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Oscar Didier Ascencio Castro, Nik Zaret Cervantes Ordaz.
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Client
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Cem Turgu y Adriana Alegria.
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Area
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250 m².
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Dates
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Completion year.- 2022.
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Location
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Guanajuato, Mexico.
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Budget
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$300,000. (€271,605)
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Photography
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HW-Studio is an architecture practice formed by Rogelio Vallejo Bores, Oscar Didier Asencio Castrocreado, Vera Sánchez Macouzet, Tirso Figueroa, Sergio A. Garcia Padilla and Jesús Alejandro López Hernández, founded in 2010 in Morelia city, Mexico, within the booming of violence of the country. 

The Studio was created with the purpose to stimulate and get implicated in the architectural process with artistic principles and eastern (budist) philosophy with western concepts, in order to create spaces that reminds and promotes that threatened peace.

Meditation is part of their creative process, becoming the natural and obvious answer for the creation of spaces that can transmit a serenity sensation, tranquility and silence, in a world mostly noisy and violent.

They constantly seek to promote an appreciation of what is really important in life, eliminating from architecture, everything that is not essential, so that through conscious contemplation, states of inner peace are reached.

The name: HW-Studio, comes from the union of the H letter, which in spanish is considered the silent letter and it means the representation of silence. The W letter comes from the Japanese concept wabisabi, which has no Spanish translation or direct equivalence with western concepts, but it could be understood as beauty of the impermanent and the imperfect.
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Published on: April 13, 2023
Cite: "The rock as a powerful constructive identity. Enso House II by HW-Studio" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/rock-a-powerful-constructive-identity-enso-house-ii-hw-studio> ISSN 1139-6415
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