In a vast forest area in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, Taller Héctor Barroso has built five weekend houses, which adapt to the site’s topography. They are surrounded by pine trees that echo the sound of the wind.

Each house—identical in its typology—consists of six volumes positioned in a way that they generate a void, a central patio. The patio grants views, silence and intimacy.

To the north the volumes are solid and closed. To the south, they open up to the garden and the forest, supplying the interior with daylight.

On the ground floor, living, dining, the kitchen and one of the bedrooms expand to the exteriors to join terraces, patios and the garden. On the top floor, three bedrooms frame the views to the magnificent pines.

The materials, such as brick, wood and soil are all regional. The soil from the excavations has been taken and reused as the main material to cover the walls. Thereby, the architecture literally emerges from the ground.

Taller Héctor Barroso’s Entre Pinos has received a 2018 AZ Award in the category Best in Architecture—Residential Single Family Residential Interiors.

Data sheet

Location: Valle de bravo, México.

Architect: Héctor Barroso

Project Manager: Thalía Bolio

Collaborators: Ar. Vianney Watine and Ar. Diego Rentería

Engineers: Ar. Ricardo Camacho and Ar. Tomás Rodríguez 

Completion date: 2017

Total built area: 1,700 m²

Photo credit: Rory Gardiner 

About Taller Héctor Barroso

The firm led by architect Hector Barroso seeks to generate architectural proposals that manage to merge with their environment, taking advantage of the natural resources of each place: the influence of light and shadows, the surrounding vegetation, the composition of the land and the geographic. Thanks to this, the projects merge in harmony with the environment that surrounds them, creating spaces that emphasize the habitable quality of the architecture.