By Nigel F. Maynard
Project: Enso II / Location: Guanajuato, Mexico / Architect: HW Studio / Location: Morelia, Mexico / Photography: Cesar Bejar
Enso II is a small Guanajuato, Mexico-home that draws inspiration from its natural surroundings.
HW Studio in Morelia, Mexico, did extensive historical research and concluded that there are few places in Mexico with a constructive identity as strong as Guanajuato. “That finding is clearly reflected in its architecture, traditional kitchen utensils, aqueducts, legends, and even heroes like Pípila, who carries a large rock on his back to protect his regiment against bullets,” the firm says.
In the region around where the house is based, stone is an element deeply rooted in all forms of cultural expression. Accordingly, the material for this architectural piece was easily selected. In addition, there was a materials bank and capable labor nearby. “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,” the architects say.
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The firm assigned a “vocation” to each of the four quadrants: the lower right quadrant 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 is reserved for cars. HW Studio was careful to preserve as many of the trees as possible during construction so that they could provide shade to protect the cars from the sun. IN addition, a barely arched stone wall protects the entrance, avoids looking inside the house, and emphasizes the horizontal presence of the mountain in the background.
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A one-bedroom house sits in the third quadrant; the public spaces are separated from the private ones by a single volume containing bathrooms, a dressing room and a service area, breaking with the open floor plan.
The fourth quadrant houses the office. It is the only visibly prominent vertical element that contrasts with the horizontality of the landscape and the rest of the elements.
“The dispersion of these spaces forces a permanent pilgrimage between spaces,” the architects say. “It forces contact with the earth, the air, and the mountain, like an ancient monastery framing the landscape, but at the same time forming a natural part of it.”
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