A-001 Taller de Arquitectura has designed the Casa Ocoxal in the town of Valle de Bravo, a city with a Hispanic foundation and with a great tourist character that serves as a resting place located 160 kilometers from the capital of Mexico City, in Mexico.

The composition takes as a reference to the traditional houses of the town, a rudimentary house with a two-level gable roof with a very differentiated program and zoning.

The project does not only serve as a resting place for the client but a place where they can interact with the territory and with nature, where existing trees are preserved, the use of water from a stream and the rain that will serve to supply almost 70% of the house as a growing area, such as the use of solar energy with the placement of solar panels on the roof.
The Ocoxal house designed by A-001 Taller de Arquitectura seeks to contrast and dialogue between the traditional house of Valle de Bravo, with a house that tries to coexist and take advantage of nature and with a contemporary intervention. Where the program and composition are highly reflected in the use of materiality.

Two levels rise at the level of the land, the upper level is reserved for a private area with the same sheet metal enclosure as the roof that exceeds the lower level as if it were a roof eaves together with a terrace space supported by two pillars placed diagonally.

The house uses passive bioclimatic control technologies to take advantage of natural resources, the use of ventilation with a ventilated façade as well as the intention of maintaining a pleasant temperature throughout the year, guaranteeing thermal comfort.
 

Description of project by A-001 Taller de Arquitectura

The Architecture

Casa Ocoxal sits in a forest neighboring the town of Valle de Bravo, approximately 160 kilometers away from Mexico City, in a piece of land of 9,000 m² that works as a productive microsystem into which the house respectfully integrates itself. 

The shape of the main house is born out of a geometry of superimposed volumes through which the void is inhabited. The formal composition evokes Valle de Bravo’s traditional housing, the image of a cabin with a gabled rooftop proposes a reinterpretation of this iconography with a contemporary aesthetic, which is achieved through the use of black metal sheets on the facade, as well as the use of concrete and glass. 

The top volume contains the private family rooms, while the lower volume contains semi-private spaces, such as guest rooms. In the void that is generated by the intersection of both of these volumes, you can find the shared spaces that allow for a relationship between the inside and the outside to bloom, with a special focus on the contemplation and understanding of the ecosystem. 

The project isn’t just a family oriented holiday home, it’s also an exhaustive creative exercise centered around fulfilling all of the functional requirements of the residence as well as giving value to the whole ensemble, which starts off by observing and understanding each element’s role in the space of intervention. 

The Natural Resources

It was very important for the client to inhabit a space that could generate life cycles alongside the environment, which is why the leitmotiv of the project was to build a bridge that creates a connection between the house and the land, through the conservation and exploitation of the existing natural resources, which help vitalize the orchards, the fruit trees –all of the existing trees inside the estate were kept as they were–, the bees and the chicken.

About the Use of Water

One of the estate’s main characteristics is that part of it is located in a ravine through which a river runs, feeding the hydraulic mill that generates enough electricity to supply 70% of the house’s power supply. This also allows for a water distribution network, an irrigation canal, water exploitation, wetlands, plantation areas, fruit trees and orchards. There’s also a rainwater recollection plant, which treats and filters the water that is used for the hydrosanitary services, the pool and the irrigation of the green areas. The water that is not used goes back to the river in the ravine, achieving zero waste.

About the Thermal Comfort

New passive bioclimatic control technologies were implemented with the intention of taking advantage of the environment’s natural resources as well as regulating the different factors that have an impact on the livability and comfort of this project, such as humidity and temperature. The rooftop is covered in 20 solar panels which provide warm temperatures for the bathrooms and the pool. It is possible to preserve an enjoyable temperature throughout the whole year, even in winter, thanks to the Venturi natural extraction system and a facade that ventilates through interior and exterior ducts and vents.

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Architects
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Design team
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Architects.- Eduardo Gorozpe, Joel Betanzos, Arturo Olavarrieta, Erik Ley, Andrés Mendizábal, Mariluz Arce, Eridani Reyes, Gerardo Ham. Structural design.- Fernando Calleja.
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Area
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Estate.- 9.000 m². Built area.- 850 m².
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Dates
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2020.
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Location
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Valle de Bravo, State of Mexico, Mexico.
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Photography
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Eduardo Gorozpe, Jimena Martínez Zorrilla.
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Eduardo Gorozpe Fernández (CDMX, June 21, 1978) is the founder and director of the office A-001 Taller de Arquitectura. He has more than 20 years of professional work in developing public, private and institutional projects. Some of his most representative projects such as Terraza Timberland was a finalist in the Obras Award (2018); and his public utility skyscraper Barrio Capital was celebrated in various publications as an exercise in urban acupuncture (2012).

Eduardo Gorozpe Fernández has a "Master's degree in the City" of CENTER (CDMX, 2017) with an investigation that developed a methodology for the algorithmic analysis of public space. He received the degree of Bachelor of Architecture with Honorable Mention from the Universidad Anáhuac del Norte (CDMX, 2002), for his thesis El Templo, an Ecumenical Center registered in the heart of the Desierto de Los Leones that focused on heritage restoration processes.

His office A-001 Taller de Arquitectura is committed to the innovation and design that makes the city. It is a leader in the production of socially responsible commercial spaces. In 2018, it was a finalist for Pabellón Mextrópoli, and a finalist, in 2017, for Pabellón HUB-Week (Boston Society of Architects, MIT, Harvard University). In 2012, A-001 Taller de Arquitectura + BNKR Arquitectura won the proposal of the National Museum of Afghanistan, in Kabul (1/100); and his Casa del Viento project was Work of the Month from Obras Magazine (CDMX: Grupo Editorial Expansión). In 2011, Gorozpe was distinguished as Emerging Talent of the creative branch in My Trend Week (CDMX). In 2019, it won the public tender for the remodeling of the food service areas at the Chapultepec Zoo, the Aragón Zoo, and the Coyotes-Xochimilco Zoo (CDMX, 2019). It is currently in the process of starting work on the Templo Mayor Hotel and the Rubén Darío Linear Park.

Eduardo Gorozpe Fernández has developed with his team new methodologies for analyzing the use and occupation of public space. His built projects are characterized by a distinctive narrative of place. Due to his attention to interdisciplinary research on space, he has been invited to give more than 40 workshops and conferences at different universities in Mexico. After the earthquake of 19S 2017, his office supported PRO-BONO with hundreds of real estate diagnoses in the Roma-Juárez strip, CDMX; and built a single-family rural house in Hueyapan, Morelos.
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