AT house by laurent herbiet in mexico is a perfect combination of concrete and glass

with a view of the oaxtepec valley, mexico, the AT house by laurent herbiet is located on the highest point of the hill looking at the fields, and the sky. build up of concrete, wood,  and glass, the house gazes mainly inward, to avoid the neighboring street.

laurent herbiet’s house is defined by a constructive continuity, as a series of concrete diaphragms modulate the interior spaces, aligned on a single axis. the architecture grows from the bedrock, with concrete planes holding the roof slabs and sun covers, creating a fragmented-light play.

the main floor is located on the original site level, with the carpark and access level, a flight of stairs down. the mechanical room, water storage, services, and a second guest bedroom are located on this lower level.

all the latitude oriented planes are crystal and wood, and all the longitude oriented planes are concrete. the roof slab is slightly slanted north, so there is more air for the main spaces and openings for the views, and the inside corridor is located north, on the lower ceiling-height, leading the way to each room, with greenery and light to the north, and a light shaft on each end of the corridor. the materials are kept apparent, cast concrete is rough and the wood form is visible, the masonry walls are recovered from the excavation, used to create privacy between neighbors, topped with greenery.

the garden was designed with locally sourced plants, succulents for low water requirement landscaping, and all irrigation is done with recycled wastewater, with a biological secondary treatment, without chemical additives. water and solar management was part of the design of the house — south-facing facade allows for a full-day solar irradiation for the pool, vents on both sides of the house, and concrete aileron that blocks direct sunlight into the house, help lower heat gain and air conditioning needs.

the rooftop is a clean, non-hydrocarbon releasing surface, ideal for rainwater harvesting. rain is collected on the 220 sqm through 2 pluvia outlets, a cast-in-concrete siphonic piping and sent to a rainwater filter and the first flush, this separates the most polluted rain from the rest, which is the collected in a 4,000-gallon rainwater tank. once the potable water is used in household services, the sanitary drainage collects it towards the house’s waste-water treatment plant, which turns it into clean treated water and stores it in a separate tank, used for irrigation and non-potable water need, if this tank overflows it gets infiltrated into the ground.

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom