yinjispace

INTERIOR
PPAA
PHOTOGRAPHY
Luis Garvan
EDITOR
Gina
Collection

Casa Plan de Barrancas is a residential project located in the western part of Mexico City, grounded in a deep reflection on the relationship between architecture, landscape, and the city. The proposal is structured around a clear distinction between public and private realms, as well as an explicit intention to dissolve the boundaries between interior and exterior.

The project organizes the social and public life of the house on the ground floor, conceived as an open, permeable plane that is deeply connected to the landscape. This level opens fully toward the rear garden, generating a direct and continuous relationship between interior spaces and the existing vegetation, creating a natural, green atmosphere that defines the everyday experience of the home.

This relationship with the exterior and with the existing trees is not limited to the rear garden, but extends throughout the entire ground floor and is reinforced toward the street through a large planter integrated into the volume. In this way, the house avoids a traditional reading of closed, defensive architecture in relation to the urban environment. Instead, the ground floor is perceived more as a landscape project than as an autonomous architectural object, blurring its physical boundaries through the strategic incorporation of vegetation both inwardly and toward the street.

This strategy is emphasized through the use of a reflective material at the base, intended to visually amplify the surrounding greenery through reflections, reducing the formal presence of the architecture at ground level. This material allows the main entrance and the garage to be concealed, while simultaneously creating the illusion that the upper levels float above a continuous, almost immaterial vegetated plane.

In contrast to the lightness and openness of the base, the upper volume—which houses the second and third levels—presents itself as a solid, contained, and clearly defined piece. This volume, with an opaque and matte materiality, features selective and controlled openings that reinforce the notion of privacy. It concentrates the most intimate areas of the house, such as bedrooms and studies.

The upper volume is strategically placed atop the reflective base, oriented and shifted in response to a large jacaranda tree located along the street. This operation not only establishes a direct dialogue with the immediate context, but also frees up a habitable outdoor space: a terrace that becomes a natural extension of the home. This void generated by the displacement of the volume aligns with PPAA’s philosophy, in which unbuilt space—or the “defined void”—acquires the same design relevance as the built volume, understanding architecture as the simultaneous construction of matter and space.

Its materiality is further accentuated through a texture of vertical striations achieved with the same plaster finish, reinforcing a clean, sober, and timeless geometry.

In the interiors, the project maintains material coherence that reinforces the reading of the different spatial realms. In public areas, natural plaster is used on the walls along with a bush-hammered marble floor that extends from interior to exterior, strengthening spatial continuity. In private areas, wood flooring provides a warmer and more intimate atmosphere, complementing the controlled window openings.

Finally, Casa Plan de Barrancas integrates a high degree of sustainability. The house is designed to operate independently from the electrical grid, using energy generated by solar panels. Both water heating and cooking systems are electric, significantly reducing emissions associated with the use of fossil fuels. Likewise, special care was taken during the construction process in the selection of low–carbon-footprint materials, understanding sustainability not only as a technological issue, but as a comprehensive project stance.

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