Green spaces are prized in urban areas, like the historic district this house is in: San Pedro Garza García in Mexico’s Monterrey metropolitan section. Gardens give beauty, growth and breathing space, and native plants help the environment. Architect David Martínez Ramos of Práctica Arquitectura worked with the homeowner, a landscape designer, to add fresh air to a small family home built from the ground up. He calls the central courtyard “the heart of the home” where interconnected gardens provide a sense of belonging and harmony.
Throughout Ederlezi, the couple’s name for the house, “artisanal burnt red” is the unifying color for the tiles, walls, ceilings, even the pebbles in the courtyard. Because of the small footprint (the lot measures 16 feet by 66 feet), using one hue made the rooms flow better and the space look larger. The owners chose the name because they love to travel and hope to visit the Ederlezi celebration in the Balkans and Turkey. It marks the beginning of spring and new growth after a gray winter. The patios and trees here invite a calmer, more intimate and unplugged life.
Martínez Ramos reports that it is hot all year here—about 100 degrees for five months. That’s why an open-air, bring-the-outside-in design was so fitting for this primary residence (which also has air conditioning). The home is in a noisy area, but has plenty of places to find peace, including a main bedroom, kitchen, living space, dining room, study, guest room, green terrace and even a little pool. “From every room in the house, you see the garden,” says the architect.
“The house is one project, not several, so it could be very chaotic to switch colors,” adds Martínez Ramos. “But at the end of the house, you have a little service space for the boiler and water reserve, and we made that patio all blue. It’s a very tiny space but it gives a touch of something surreal.”
The house is surrounded by four ecosystems: Desert, forest, valley and mountain. “Nature gives so much to day-to-day life,” notes Martínez Ramos. While the surrounding area can be noisy, when you enter the house, “it’s like a sanctuary that transports you,” he adds.
“I hope we see more houses like Ederlezi. Here in Mexico, we have so many small lots and houses like little boxes. You enter and never see the outside again,” adds the architect. “That kind of house doesn’t make for a better city or a better quality of life. You can experience this house not only in a material way but in a spiritual way. The things you can’t touch–those are the important things.”
Photography by César Béjar, Apertura Arquitectónica, Dove Dope.
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