III Habitaciones
Located in Tepoztlán, a town in the state of Morelos in central-southern México.
III Habitaciones is an intervention project that takes as reference the relationship between the house, its spacious garden, and the Tepozteco mountain. Three volumes adapt to these conditions to form an intimate core that allows for a different experience when moving between them. Through a central courtyard, the rooms are connected visually while maintaining the privacy they deserve.
The different conditions are resolved with a 30 x 30 cm module, generating a grid that helps organize the spaces resulting from this arrangement. One of the rooms is slightly offset towards the boundary to create an essential space within the intervention.
The Tree Courtyard serves as a connecting space between the intervention and the house. Its use is directly linked to the garden, the pool, and, above all, the sunset.
The secondary rooms are separated by three modules (90 cm), allowing for a subtle division between them. However, at their upper level, they are connected by a lightweight bridge made of rods that allow sunlight and rain to reach the courtyard below. This connection creates a large elevated platform designed for daytime experiences of the site—enjoying the sunset, the night, and the view of the Tepozteco.
Structural Synthesis
The project is built using a simple structural system of load-bearing walls made of high-resistance and hyper-pressed brick, reinforced with horizontal and vertical steel bars.
These walls rest on a slightly deep foundation of volcanic stone, adjusted according to soil conditions and geotechnical studies. The intermediate floor structure consists of a framework of wooden beams linked by concrete tie beams and a compression layer that encloses the rooms.
- Foundation The foundation consists of a continuous footing system made of stone masonry, set at a depth of 90 cm and extending 20 cm above ground level, for a total height of 1.10 m. This raised foundation helps protect the rooms from moisture and accommodates level changes. The terrain has a significant slope of nearly two meters at its front, requiring a retaining wall along the main façade (south side) that also serves as the foundation for Room One's wall.
- Superstructure The load-bearing walls are constructed using a system of double-hollow, hyper-pressed high-resistance bricks composed of sand, clay, and cement, measuring 15 x 30 x 8.5 cm. This wall system does not use intermediate mortar joints, as it employs a tongue-and-groove interlocking system. The steel reinforcements, designed to absorb horizontal loads (earthquakes), are placed at maximum intervals of 75 cm (equivalent to three bricks). Vertical reinforcements of 3/8” steel bars are connected to horizontal reinforcements placed every four rows. All corners are reinforced with 3/8” corrugated steel bars in each of the hollow spaces at the intersections. The capping system consists of a 15 x 30 cm beam reinforced with 4 No. 3 steel bars and No. 2 stirrups spaced every 20 cm, with concrete rated at 200 kg/cm². This beam provides a strong anchor for the double walls, ensuring they remain structurally integrated. The floor systems are composed of a ceramic structure, using clay slabs as permanent formwork, a 5 cm-thick compression layer with concrete rated at 175 kg/cm², and a finished pavement made of clay slabs arranged in a “petatillo” pattern.
