Local studio RA! has created a blocky house called Casa LL with polystyrene panels and concrete in Tepoztlán, Mexico.
The 481-square meter (5,178-square foot) home was completed by the Mexico City-based team of Cristóbal Ramírez de Aguilar, Pedro Ramírez de Aguilar and Santiago Sierra, who lead RA!.
Located on a lot under the cliffs of Tepozteco, the "geometric composition of the house responds to a fragmentation of prisms that join and separate to shape its internal spaces," the team said.
RA! have designed a Mexican house made out of polystyrene panels and concrete
"They come together to create amplitude and disperse to retreat into solitude."
Using concrete that plays off the hues of the surrounding mountains, the sections of the house were designed to resemble stones from the cliffs ? but sculpted for habitation. The concrete was applied to a three-dimensional wire structure that wrapped expanded polystyrene panels to create an insulated wall assembly.
The single-storey Casa LL is oriented inward to a set of internal courtyards and passageways
The result is a sand-coloured monolith with board-formed impressions on one side and smooth texture on the other.
With now exterior-facing windows, the single-story home is oriented inward towards internal courtyards and passageways.
"Each of the volumes denies the views from the street, thus creating the volumetric gesture through which the house begins to be discovered," the team said.
The sepa...