CASA GRUTA
Located in the Sisal Barrio in the city of Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico, Casa Gruta is a project by Architect Salvador Román Hernández and Architect Adela Mortera Villarreal. It is a plastic and architectural exercise that explores perception, sensitivity, scale, and the materiality of spaces, taking you back to the refuge, to the cave. It invites us to reflect on the fleeting nature of time and the ephemeral, through its light and shadow casting show, the preservation of preexisting elements, and their interaction with the new structure over time.
This structure is a contemporary habitable sculpture, designed as an analogy of caves, grottoes, and cenotes—geological formations characteristic of the Yucatán Peninsula’s physical context.
The project seeks to simplify, through its materiality, the various chromatic ranges found in these natural spaces, using pigmented “grayish-green” concrete, which changes color saturation in the human eye as the sun moves. As contrasts, natural cedar wood is used, referencing trees and plants. Lastly, the golden hardware in the fixtures references metals and minerals found in the earth. This same color palette is echoed in the art pieces, objects, and textiles in the interior design (carried out by designer Paulina Román and Andres Briceño), complementing the minimalism of the green walls.
The distribution of spaces throughout the site aims to recreate the sensations generated by these natural formations when traversed. The tunnels, vaults, clearings, and cenotes or water bodies they protect guide the function and disposition of each space. They open or close depending on the sensory experience one seeks to have.
The entrance, sheltered by an alamo tree, which is commonly found in Yucatán and often indicates the presence of cenotes or underground aquifer formations, marks the beginning of the house's journey.
We are welcomed by an open-air vestibule housing a water body intervened by Andres Briceño, a composition of chultunes placed at the center of the water mirror, referencing ancient Mayan rituals as acts of purification before entering a cenote, which were considered sacred by Mayan culture.
The journey leads us to a second access, which closes to create a shadowed tunnel, serving as the distributor to each area of the program and the route to capture the building's natural ventilation. The first space we encounter is the first bedroom, which ends with a private courtyard, an outdoor shower, and a water body. Continuing through the tunnel, it opens into the common area, which, covered by a hammered concrete vault, houses the open living and dining rooms, complemented by the kitchen and pool area. The visual climax of this space is a large cylinder that intersects the vault, housing the staircase that leads to the rooftop—a recreational space on the first level and an observatory on the second level, designed as a contemplative space for meditation or simply a panoramic view of the surrounding context.
The ground-floor program is completed with two additional bedrooms. The first, offering more privacy, has a contemplative courtyard, accompanied by sculptural pieces and vegetation. At the end of the journey is the master bedroom, which, in addition to being the largest, has an interior courtyard as a visual conclusion, featuring a cylindrical water body that accompanies the space's protagonist: a preexisting Flamboyant tree that creates plays of light and shadow alongside the circular forms that compose the courtyard's void.
Casa Gruta is a refuge for introspection and reflection on the fast-paced rhythm of contemporary life—a space for time contemplation.
