Location: Cuernavaca, Mexico
Year of construction: 1994
Architect: Alberto Kalacb
Photography: Marta/rene Alcantara, Pep Avila
Designed to be surrounded by gardens, this house stands alongside a gully in Palmira, Cuernavaca, Mexico. As it takes years for a garden to develop, the property effectively lies unfinished, like a forgotten seed.
The house is a pavilion surrounded by green spaces. For primarily functional reasons it was designed as a compact structure but it still fills the site.
Each part of the property has its own yard and the structure as a whole is contained within four long walls and two concrete towers. To reach the small hallway you cross a little sloping courtyard paved with local stone, entering via a covered passageway that will eventually be covered with bougainvillea. The living room is a deep terrace opening onto the yard on the northwest, surrounded by acacia and jasmine. The dining area is enclosed by long walls and adorned with abelias and Heavenly bamboo in a courtyard filled with orange trees. The den shares a terrace with the swimming pool and the bedrooms are submerged in the rich vegetation of the yard.
In time plants will fill the spaces allocated to them in the design. The mud walls, the concrete, and the wood that acted as a framework will age and become part of the yard itself.
The concrete walls and the wood used for the framework will age as the plants grow and gradually take over the surroundings.
Casa Palmira is designed as a combination of interior spaces, yards, patios, and a pool.