Project: Casa Candelaria
Architects: Cherem Arquitectos
Location: San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico
Photographs by: Enrique Macias, courtesy of Cherem Arquitectos
Cherem Arquitectos have completed the Candelaria House or otherwise known as Casa Candelaria which is located in Guanjuato, central Mexico.
The home sits on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende using 20 inch thick rammed earth walls that allow the architecture to blend with the natural landscape. This materials was chosen to ensure that the residence has a high thermal mass in order to retain the heat during hot days before gradually discharging it throughout the cooler desert nights.
From the architects: “Casa Candelaria, is located at the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. It was conceived around the concept that denotes the strength of its presence and belonging to the site where it is built. In that sense, it was decided to return to the program of the Mexican haciendas and resolve the new house around courtyards which themselves contain an activity that represents the tension and the relationship between the functions of the volumes that surround it.
Another key intention for the design development was the constructive method. The decision to use rammed earth walls using the soil from the actual site along with the addition of natural dyes to achieve the black tone seeks to integrate the house with the environment emphasizing the intent that the main element outside of the house is the vegetation.”
“The benefits of using rammed soil walls as the construction method, is the insulation properties. The wall thickness of 50 cm allows the house to be cool in hot temperatures (daytime) and warm at night when the temperature of San Miguel tends to fall drastically. Furthermore, by using the material extracted from the site itself resulted in considerable savings on material and transportation making the construction time and cost effective.
The guesthouse consists of 4 volumes connected by a covered courtyard and 200sqm of construction.
The materials used in this project are compacted soil walls, parota wood for indoors, fixtures and floors and archaeological stone for the outdoor, accompanied to a lesser extent by the use concrete, ironwork and cement tile floors.
In short, this house responds to a contemporary Mexican Hacienda using an innovative and effective construction system.”
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