Casa Akúun
About the project
Casa Akúun
A single-story, single-family house with 1,028 m² of built area in Mérida, Yucatán (2020). It is almost seventy meters long, and a courtyard with an álamo tree at its center separates the public areas from the private ones; hence its name, Akúun, or “Casa Álamo” in Spanish.
Casa Akúun, or “Casa Álamo” in Spanish, is a house almost seventy meters long, virtually divided by a tree of this species that stands in a courtyard caught between the public and private areas of the house.
Part of the intent of the house is to blend the interior with the exterior, to forget barriers and to allow it to be walked through from one end to the other with complete freedom.
Project facts
| Type | Single-family house |
|---|---|
| Location | Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico |
| Year | 2020 |
| Built area | 1,028 m² |
| Status | Built |
| Arkham's scope | Architecture |
| Co-authors and collaborators | Cáceres Arquitectos y Asociados S.A. de C.V. (construction) |
| Photography | Yoshihiro Koitani |
The challenge
Fitting the entire program on a single floor, with a clear, functional and efficient layout, without sacrificing the spaciousness of the rooms or the relationship between the different areas of the house.
The design decision
Designing a house with a very horizontal composition, open toward the green areas, so that as many spaces as possible would look directly onto the gardens. This strategy made it possible to stretch the house along the plot and strengthen the connection between the interior spaces and the landscape.
Materials
Materiality
Exposed concrete, natural wood on ceilings and cladding, floor-to-ceiling glass, steel in structural elements and window frames, natural stone, light-toned paving and stone-textured finishes.
Material concept
The use of natural, honest materials; exposed concrete and wood as protagonists; contrast between solid structural elements and transparent enclosures; visual and material continuity between interiors and exteriors; the integration of the architecture with the existing vegetation; and a palette of neutral, warm tones that reinforces the horizontality of the house.
Distinctive elements
A single-story house almost seventy meters long, a horizontal exposed-concrete slab, wood ceilings that extend toward the terraces, large glass enclosures, a sculptural pergola of concrete elements, a central courtyard with an existing álamo tree that divides the public and private areas, terraces open toward the gardens and the pool, integrated tropical vegetation and paths surrounded by nature.
Awards
- 11º Premio Nacional de Arquitectura e Interiorismo AAI México 2022: 1st place, Arquitectura ResidencialEvidence: elhorizonte.mxSee it in the awards list
- Obra del Año, Expansión 2021: Finalist, Vivienda Media ResidencialEvidence: obras.expansion.mxSee it in the awards list
- Obra del Año, Expansión 2022: Finalist, Vivienda ResidencialSee it in the awards list
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