GOMA embraces earthen-tinted concrete with its casa tejocote

a house surrounding a garden

Outside Mexico‘s historic city of Querétaro, Gonzalez Muchow Arquitectura (GOMA) realizes a single-family home dubbed ‘Casa Tejocote.’ Its design and building materials were chosen to represent the traditional architecture of the area and to blend harmoniously with the surrounding semi-desert landscape.

The design was driven on providing the maximum possible privacy for the spaces. As fences are not allowed in the housing estate according to regulations, the house was designed to act as a wall that both encloses and protects the living areas. The plan was divided into four solid sections, which surround the large central garden and are connected by a bridge of a lighter character. Precise cuts were made in these four modules to let in subtle light, frame the view of the landscape, and integrate the indoor and outdoor areas.

image © Miguel González

the sunlit ‘casa tejocote’

The design team at GOMA distributes its Casa Tejocote across 650 square meters and two levels. On the ground floor, the social areas include the living room, dining room, kitchen, and service spaces. The upper level hosts three bedrooms and a family room.

A central gardened courtyard floods the semi-open interiors with sunlight. This organization ensures privacy while maintaining a connection to the outdoors. The garden is essential to the environment of the house, with its four blocks each facing inwards onto it, allowing the family to spend time together and in harmony with nature. Native plant-life permeates and surrounds the house to create a blend of architecture and nature.

image © Ariadna Polo | @ariadnapolo.foto

natural materials for an earthen space

The interiors and exterior spaces of Casa Tejocote are united by a continuous atmosphere of warmth and simplicity. Gonzalez Muchow Arquitectura (GOMA) crafts the dwelling with tepetate, earthen-pigmented concrete, a material which creates a welcoming atmosphere and celebrates the natural light and landscape.

‘The use of discreet materials causes light and space itself to be the protagonists of the house,’ the architects comment. ‘However, elementary details such as solid wood in furniture and ironwork; as well as brick floors and pasta mosaics, complement this sensation of serenity that the spaces transmit.’

image © Ariadna Polo

the structure by Gonzalez muchow arquitectura (GOMA)

Reinforced concrete elements create the structure of the main volumes, with walls layered and poured every eighty centimeters. The height and modulation of the interior spaces, openings, and other details are informed by this modulation. While the volumes have an overall orthogonal rigidity, curved details soften the geometry and make the environment more sensitive.

image © Ariadna Polo
image © Ariadna Polo