Casa Rancho Avándaro
Ninety kilometers west of Mexico City and close to the lakeside town of Valle de Bravo, Casa Rancho Avándaro emerges on the edge of a forest of oaks and firs as the second home of a young family seeking refuge from the chaos of the city.
Located on an elongated plot accessed via a cul-de-sac, surrounded by towering trees and enjoying a privileged southern orientation, the project was conceived with the intention of creating a restful space where family life and contact with nature unfold in an especially intimate way.
The design is the result of a thorough analysis of the inhabitants’ leisure-time activities and is organized into two main blocks:
The first, closest to the street, contains the more private areas: service rooms, bedrooms, and a family room. The second, which opens onto a large garden, houses the living area where family and friends gather. Thanks to the permeability of its façades, the boundaries between indoors, outdoors, and the majestic forest landscape become blurred.
These two volumes are connected by a corridor—which also serves as the home’s main entrance—and arranged around a central landscaped courtyard, where the vastness of the surrounding landscape is brought down to a domestic scale: it enters the house in just the right measure.
Valle de Bravo holds a rich architectural tradition. Gabled roofs, exposed wooden beams, porticoed façades, and central courtyards are common elements in many of its vernacular buildings. Beyond aesthetics, these features are integrated as practical responses to the region’s climatic conditions.
One of the guiding principles of this project was the revival of these traditional elements, assembled through a careful study of overlapping planes, the balance between solid and void, and proper spatial proportions. The result is a nearly archetypal form of a house, where two volumes rise from a clear base and are interwoven through a grid of golden proportions—evoking more classical architectural compositions.
The same spirit guided the selection of materials. Conceived as an honest structure in which the supporting elements are also its visible features, concrete and brick take center stage in the composition. Likewise, the use of clay and pine wood—deeply rooted in the local building tradition—showcases refined and detailed craftsmanship. The constant presence of red acts as a subtle reference to the streets of Valle de Bravo and their characteristic baseboards.
Though located in a temperate climate, the project incorporates a set of bioclimatic strategies that allow it to respond efficiently to the region’s pronounced seasonal changes: the orientation of living spaces toward the south, roof overhangs for solar protection, and the inclusion of openings that enable cross ventilation all help maintain a comfortable home throughout the year. In the same vein, a carefully designed system of gutters and downspouts collects rainwater during the heavy rainy season for storage and use during dry spells.
The house was especially designed for the enjoyment of the children who live in it. Lofted spaces in the bedrooms, small windows connecting different rooms, and lattices that evoke a sense of intimacy become elements that invite play and imagination. At the same time, through its form and materials, the project captures the essence of the traditional Mexican countryside house—architecture deeply rooted in its context, yet still a reflection of contemporary values and ways of living.
