Detail

Located in a privileged place within a privileged enclave, the Asu houses are designed to be interpreted as a clear scheme of single-family homes which dance to the same rhythm, a composition of moving volumes caused by adaptation to the slight and subtle but noticeable unevenness, who maintain their independence from each other as part of the same family. This slight movement confers kindness to the volume, dynamism, and visual richness, avoiding becoming a rough and cold volume.

Launched in 1957, Sputnik was the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth. This unassuming four-legged sphere circled our planet for three months before disintegrating in the atmosphere and occasioned the awkward period we know as the Space Race, during which the Soviet Union and the USA competed for astronautic supremacy.

The need to build some guest bathrooms and a storage room made us question the traditional models for these spaces. The first part of the project was based on finding the right location within the property, which houses a historic house built more than a hundred years ago, located in the city center of Cuernavaca. At the rear of the house, a large concrete slab suggests the location of a garden. It is right there where the first action arises, raising the concrete slab to be in contact with the earth again, lowering the temperature considerably and beginning the process of bringing the garden back.

The chosen location is Monte el Pardo, 30 kilometers from Madrid in a plot with fantastic views and orientation. Our clients expect their house to be empty for a good part of the year so they want to find a way to make it pay for itself by renting it out when they are away but maintaining a private space. Thus, the commission starts like a house with two independent areas that can be converted into one in the future. The sloping layout of the plot helps us to solve both needs by generating a two-story house with independent access from the outside to each level.